Image courtesy of RODE Architects
Development approval for 218 apartments on a vacant Mission Hill property hit a delay last night as Boston officials reacted to opposition from neighborhood residents.
The former Mission Church property at 80-100 Smith St. has been eyed for redevelopment since 2005, and the current project team has been seeking approval since fall 2022.
A Boston Planning Department impact advisory group made up of neighborhood residents stated its opposition to the project, proposed by Boston-based Weston Associates, in February. Neighbors renewed their objections as the Boston Planning & Development Agency board prepared to vote on the project this week.
Developers have made a series of concessions in response to public comment, developers’ attorney Joseph Hanley told the board Thursday, including setting aside 17 percent of the units for households earning a maximum 70 percent of area median income, and reducing the size by 11 units.
But board members tabled the approval after receiving letters of opposition and complaints that the developers were unresponsive to public comments.
At its November meeting, the BPDA board approved six other projects totaling 273 housing units, of which 156 are income-restricted.
Projects Approved Under Squares + Streets
Two projects were approved under recent rezoning designed to encourage multifamily housing production and minimize the need for developers to obtain variances.
A 29-unit project at 691-695 Morton St. will replace a vacant lot with a 6-story apartment building. The project is allowed as-of-right under the Mattapan Squares + Streets zoning plan approved by the BPDA board in April.
A similar rezoning plan was enacted in January for East Boston, where developer CBE 944 Saratoga received approval this week for a 21-unit apartment building.
Located on an 8,609-square-foot lot, the 4-story building’s design is emblematic of future multifamily projects allowed under the new East Boston zoning, said attorney Richard Lynds, representing the developer.
The largest project approved this month, located in South Boston, replaces a small commercial building at 49-51 D St. with a 9-story apartment building including 70 units.
A partnership between Fenway Community Development Corp. and the Archdiocese of Boston’s Planning Office of Urban Affairs will convert the Our Lady’s Guild House roominghouse on Charlesgate West into 86 income-restricted units. The project will convert former single-occupancy units into studio apartments, and will include renovations to the 1899 building to update building systems, said Richard Giordano, the Fenway CDC’s senior adviser for special projects.
The two groups acquired the property in 2023 after the previous owner reached a settlement with Attorney General Andrea Campbell to settle an age-related housing discrimination complaint.
In Allston, another nonprofit affordable housing developer will create 49 age-restricted housing units at the Hill Memorial Baptist Church property on North Harvard St. The project by Allston Brighton Community Development Corp. includes a conversion of the former church building into senior housing and construction of a new 42,000-square-foot building for program space.
And in Brighton, Newton-based Peninsula Capital Group received approval for an 18-unit condominium project, replacing a single-family home at 434 Washington St.
