The fate of the only undeveloped parcel of land in the Audubon Circle neighborhood of Boston is in limbo, with the owner, Triad Group, playing the no-show card at a community meeting where the firm was scheduled to present a new proposal to neighbors.

Three months ago, the firm presented a proposal for 25 Miner St. would have occupied about a quarter of the 750-feet-long roadway, which runs from Beacon Street on the west to Fullerton Street on the east.

Boston-based Triad Group’s initial plan called for a seven-story residential project for micro apartments with a very high density. Those were two strikes against the developer already in the eyes of neighbors.

First, the community was expecting a smaller building overall. Residents expected the first portion of the property, closest to Beacon Street, to be no more than 33 feet tall, with just a small portion jutting up to seven stories near the train tracks adjacent to the site. Instead, about three-quarters of the building proposed stood at seven stories, with just a small portion at 33 feet. Zoning puts a 45-foot limit on height at the site.     

Then, the density proposed – 69 units in very small, tightly-packed apartments – led neighbors to suspect the developer was planning to rent the units to area college students. That was nothing short of a death knell for the proposal for residents, who voiced strong objections. It didn’t help that an affiliate of the development group, which did not return calls at press time, has created student housing in cities across the globe. The developer went back to the drawing board and was scheduled to present a new proposal this month, but canceled because the plans weren’t ready, said Patricia Johnson, co-president of the Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association (ACNA).

‘Completely Unacceptable’

Whatever the developer presents, Johnson doesn’t expect major changes.

“It’ll probably be in the same vein of what they presented last time,” Johnson told Banker & Tradesman. “They were just pushing for more and more density. We strongly suspected that the primary target would be students, and we are a student-saturated neighborhood already.”

The development team is expected to present new plans for the site to the community group in November. But regardless of what is proposed, it will need to pass neighbors’ inspection.

“They really need to start from scratch to develop something the neighborhood can agree on,” said Johanna Sena, director of community relations for City Councilor Michael Ross. “They want assurances that it won’t become student housing.”

This certainly isn’t the neighborhood’s first rodeo on Miner Street. Numerous real estate firms have tried and failed to build on the vacant lot, something developers don’t find all that often near downtown Boston.

First, there was an agreement that worked for the neighborhood and gained city approvals, but the property was sold to a company called Abbott Development, headed by Jim McAuliffe, a past president of John Hancock Realty Advisors.

McAuliffe went to the ACNA wanting to develop Stonewall at Audubon. In 2007, the site was approved for 53 condominiums for gay men and lesbians. But the project tanked as financing dried up amid the market’s crash. Stonewall Miner, a joint venture between Abbott Development and Stonewall Communities, a nonprofit organization that builds senior housing for gays and lesbians, filed for bankruptcy.

Now, the new developer has a chance to put its own signature on the area. But unless the project works for local residents, Triad will have a hard road to hoe.

“The feedback from the last presentation was that it was completely unacceptable,” said Richard Ong, Johnson’s co-president. “I think they understand that the community would like them to stay to the original approvals. I assume they are now re-designing the plans.”