Image courtesy of Embarc

An office building near Hanscom Field in Lexington could be demolished to make way for a 290-unit apartment complex in a project stemming from the town’s expansive MBTA Communities compliance plan.

Dallas-based JLB Partners has proposed a 5-story, 290-unit rental complex with a 4-story, 444-space central parking garage. The property contains a 3-story office building completed in 1983.

The Lexington Planning Board will resume a public hearing on a site plan review for the project tonight. 

Lexington town meeting voted in March 2025 to eliminate some of the town’s MBTA Communities districts following stronger-than-expected response from multifamily developers.

But owners of 16 properties in the affected districts, including 131 Hartwell Ave., filed subdivision plans preserving their rights to develop multifamily housing under the previous expanded districts.

The 131 Hartwell Ave. project would comply with Lexington’s inclusionary zoning by reserving 44 units, or 15 percent of the total, for households earning 80 percent of area median income.

Redevelopment of the property would quadruple its annual property taxes to an estimated $1.2 million, according to a report submitted by engineering and design consultants VHB on behalf of the developers.

JLB Partners has a local office in Newton and develops class A multifamily housing projects across the U.S.

BXP broke ground last summer on a 312-unit apartment complex at 17 Hartwell Ave., replacing an office building.

The MBTA Communities law required 177 cities and towns to provide by-right zoning for multifamily projects. The law has catalyzed proposals and construction of nearly 7,000 housing units in the region.

A Boston Foundation report released in January found that nearly half of the projects are located more than a mile from an MBTA train station, as developers gravitated toward underutilized commercial sites near highway corridors.

Image courtesy of Embarc