Image courtesy of RODE Architects

The owner of a Roslindale headstone company unveiled designs for 165 apartments in a 7-story building near the Forest Hills station on the MBTA’s Orange Line.

Masema LLC, a development firm led by Joseph Vozzella, is seeking approval for the project at 3841 Washington St.

The 0.8-acre property is located in a local industrial zoning district and currently is occupied by a 2-story commercial building headquartered by Wellsmere Monumental Works, a business owned by the developer, and surface parking.

“While still appropriate in certain areas of the city, local industrial zoning in Boston currently functions more as a historical relic that is not responsive to current housing creation priorities,” the application states.

Designed by RODE Architects, the project would include a 144,633 square-foot building, 5,652 square feet of commercial space and 33 parking spaces. The U-shaped building would include a central courtyard and a second-level terrace as amenity space for tenants. 

The project would include 18 percent income-restricted units and an additional 3 percent of units reserved for housing voucher holders.

The project requires Zoning Board of Appeal approval of variances for building height, floor area ratio and rear yard setback.

Locating the building on the rear of the site would maximize tenant views of the Arnold Arboretum, while reducing the scale of its appearance from Washington Street, developers said in the submission. The building only would create new shadows on Arnold Arboretum on Dec. 21, according to a shadow analysis.

The Forest Hills area has been a magnet for multifamily development in recent years, but a January report from advocacy group TransitMatters and the Boston Indicators think-tank found was much less dense, at 11.8 homes per acre, than the 15 units per acre minimum density for areas covered by the MBTA Communities law.