The second of two buildings at Samuels & Assoc.’s Continuum apartment complex in Allston opened in early December. The 325-unit property is 27 percent leased with studios starting at $2,415.

Demand for multifamily housing that has generated construction of 4,000 units in Boston and added thousands more to the development pipeline is starting to reshape the vast rental market in Allston.

Long the haven of off-campus apartments and absentee landlords, Allston is attracting interest from developers seeking to bring a greater variety of housing arrangements in a neighborhood where an estimated eight out of 10 residents is a renter. More than 250 units are permitted or under construction at four new complexes in the neighborhood and another 170 are under Boston Redevelopment Authority review.

Cambridge-based Eden Properties is proposing 83 studios starting at an estimated $1,850 in a proposed 138-unit complex at 89 Brighton Ave.

“To the extent you can start building these units, it will actually free up some of the triple-deckers for families,” said Noah Maslan, a partner with Eden Properties.

Taking a page from its luxury towers in the Fenway, Boston-based Samuels & Assoc. recently completed construction of its 325-unit Continuum luxury apartment at Western Avenue and North Harvard Street. The property is testing demand for high-end living space but with rents that are discounted up to 25 percent compared with newly-built properties downtown, Samuels Principal Leslie Cohen said.

“What drew us to Allston really were a lot of the similarities we saw a decade ago in the Fenway,” Cohen said. “If you look up and down Western Avenue, it doesn’t look too dissimilar. It’s starting to change, little by little.”

Average rents in Allston have risen from $2,191 in November 2010 to $2,403 in October 2015, according to real estate researchers Zillow.

Cutting Development Costs Through Transit

Many older commercial and industrial properties are suited to be redeveloped as housing, developers say.

Cambridge-based Eden Properties specializes in redeveloping underutilized properties in neighborhoods with public transit into multifamily housing. For its first Allston project, it’s seeking to build 138 apartments at 89 Brighton Ave., replacing four commercial and residential buildings.

The property is on the edge of Allston Village and its lively retail and restaurant scene, but in a neighborhood where a new apartment complex would stand out, Maslan said.

“This is an opportunity where people coming out of college who want to stay in the neighborhood,” he said. “Everything you want you can get walking from that location and we see that as a huge opportunity to stabilize the neighborhood a bit in that section of Allston where there are a lot of roommate situations.”

Eden is positioning the project as a transit-oriented development, seeking approval for only 68 parking spaces. Alternative transportation would be encouraged with 168 bike storage spaces and a bike loaner program. Tenants who don’t own cars would be eligible for one free monthly MBTA pass, a free one-year Zipcar membership and discounts on Hubway and Uber.

To comply with the city’s inclusionary development policy, 19 units would be reserved for tenants who earn no more than 70 percent of the area median income. Market-rate units are projected to start at approximately $1,850 and range up to $3,000. Plans call for 83 studios, a category that is in high demand but short supply, Maslan said.

The limited parking plans also help reduce development costs and control rents by avoiding the need to build an underground garage, Maslan said. So would plans for stick-built construction techniques and a limited amenities package.

Carol Ridge Martinez, executive director of the Allston Brighton Community Development Council, said the surrounding neighborhood has been “under siege” in the past decade as absentee owners bought single-family homes and sliced them up into student rentals.

New development such as 89 Brighton Ave. would have a stabilizing influence, she said.

“In its final iteration, it’ll be a very good project for the neighborhood. The place where we have to remain vigilant is making sure our infrastructure around transit and making sure our streetscapes are improved to handle the increasing density,” she said. “We hear a lot of talk about transit-oriented development, but it’s important to remember Allston-Brighton doesn’t have the greatest transit right now.”

Samuels’ Continuum represents the leading edge of the luxury segment in Allston, with high-end staples such as a roof terrace, cyberlounge and concierge service.

“It’s a full-service property for a market that hasn’t really seen that. You could pick it up and put it in downtown Boston and it could compete with any of the buildings in the city,” Cohen said.

Continuum is advertising studios starting at $2,415 and three-bedroom units ranging up to $4,860. With its proximity to Harvard Business School, it’s attracted a substantial grad school contingent as well as empty-nesters and young professionals, Cohen said. Up to 35,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space is being marketed to restaurants, cafés and grocers.

Transportation Projects Influence Development

Demand for apartments has driven development of luxury properties downtown and spilled over into Dorchester and Jamaica Plain. Thousands of units are proposed in large complexes on main thoroughfares such as Dorchester Avenue and Washington Street.

The potential for large-scale development in those areas could increase as the Boston Redevelopment Authority considers rezoning to allow taller multifamily buildings along the Red and Orange Line corridors to support Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s aggressive goals for housing generation. Walsh has set a goal of 53,000 additional housing units by 2030, and the BRA is considering allowing buildings as tall as 300 feet along the two subway lines to help meet the goal.

There are no immediate plans for rezoning in Allston, a neighborhood which relies heavily on the oft-delayed MBTA Green Line for its public transit service.

Galen Mook, a 12-year Allston resident who is active in city and state planning initiatives, said it might be time to bring Allston into the conversation about higher density as well.

“As long as zoning codes and density remain low and Allston is thought of as a suburban side of the city, then we’re never going to have a fair and reasonable housing market,” Mook said. “We are an urban landscape which is built largely on two and three stories.”

While the Green Line’s unreliability and lack of expansion capacity are considered barriers to growth, new transit projects could offer a relief valve. New Balance paid for construction of the new $20 million Boston Landing station scheduled to open next fall. And planning is underway on West Station at the former Beacon Park rail yard on Ashford Street as part of the Massachusetts Turnpike realignment project.

“We need a lot more housing – ownership, renters and condos – to alleviate some of the burden and bring back the diversity of the residential landscape in Allston,” Mook said.