| Boston Redevelopment Authority directors approved $244 million of projects at their final meeting of 2015, capping a year in which 7.1 million square feet of new construction were approved throughout the city.
Six projects totaling 380,000 square feet got the go-ahead last week including a $171.1-million two-phase development for Harvard University’s Klarman Hall and G2 Pavilion in Allston. The 105,000-square-foot complex will replace Burden Hall on the Harvard Business School campus. The first phase calls for construction of a 1,000-seat auditorium and underground connection to the Spangler Center. In the second phase, Burden Hall will be replaced with meetings and classroom space. The BRA also approved $100,000 from the Harvard Allston Partnership Fund to support community organizations with grants.
Other projects approved by the BRA board at the December meeting include:
- Renovation of the Boston Young Men’s Christian Union building at 48 Boylston St. in Chinatown into 46 units of affordable housing, 11,000 square feet of office space for St. Francis House and 3,800 square feet of commercial space.
- Conversion of a five-story industrial building at 175 Orleans St. in East Boston’s Jeffries Point neighborhood into a 127-room loft-style “Loftel” hotel with 12-foot ceilings in guest rooms.
- Construction of General Heath Square Apartments, a 47-unit affordable housing complex near the MBTA’s Jackson Square station in Jamaica Plain. The project is a partnership between the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. and Back of the Hill Community Development Corp.
- An $8.8-million, 87,979-square-foot expansion of Dorchester’s Epiphany School on Centre Street to provide room for offices, a greenhouse and outdoor gardening area for students, three housing units for teaching fellows and early learning classroom space.
- Construction of 19 condos off Taft Hill Terrace in Roslindale by Parkhead Development LLC.
- The board also approved Mayor Martin Walsh’s new executive order changing the city’s inclusionary development policy, which requires developers in high-cost neighborhoods to make larger contributions to the city’s affordable housing fund if they want to locate income-restricted units off-site.
- Directors also granted a 10-year extension of 14 urban renewal plans for neighborhoods throughout the city. The plans are set to expire in April and also require approval by the Boston city council and state Department of Housing and Community Development.
