Photo courtesy of Google Maps
Proposed affordability density bonuses for Allston’s Western Avenue corridor could spur redevelopment of a former gas station property as 118 apartments.
The owner of 500 Western Ave. is proposing a 6-story, 99,000-square-foot apartment building at the Irving gas station property, after reducing the size of the project and increasing the percentage of affordable units following a series of community meetings.
The project originally would have included 159 apartments in a 7-story building, attorney Joseph Hanley wrote in a notification letter to the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
The updated plans would reserve at least 18 percent of the units as income-restricted.
The project will include artist live-work units, ground-floor retail and an unspecified number of below-grade parking spaces.
The 0.75-acre site includes five parcels at 500-502 Western Ave. and 7-9 Richardson St., including surface parking and the former gas station, now used as a parking lot. The developers recently completed environmental remediation of the property, the notification letter states.
The applicant, 500 Western Ave. LLC, lists Ardashes and M. Annette Garabedian as managers.
The BPDA’s Western Avenue corridor study is proposing density bonuses in exchange for projects that exceed the city’s existing inclusionary development policy minimum of 13 percent affordable units. The neighborhood has attracted recent large-scale development including King Street Properties’ 576,000-square-foot NEXUS at the Allston Innovation Corridor mixed-use project, which received $585 million in financing this summer.
