Photo courtesy of Google Maps
A Financial District office building is the first property to seek approval under Boston’s new residential conversion program offering property tax breaks to developers.
Adam Burns of Boston Pinnacle Properties is seeking to convert a 6-story building at 281-285 Franklin St. into 15 apartments.
The 6-story building spans nearly 13,000 square feet and sits on a corner lot at Franklin and Batterymarch streets.
The project, estimated at $1.6 million, will convert the second through sixth floors into housing units, according to a small project review application submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. Balance Architects is advising Pinnacle on the project.
Burns is seeking to qualify for Boston’s downtown residential conversion incentive program, which launched in October. To date, two developers have submitted applications to participate in the program, according to a Boston Business Journal report. The other proposal is by KS Partners for 98 housing units at 85 Devonshire St. and 258 and 262 Washington St.
Participants in the program are required to include a minimum 17 percent income-restricted units in their projects.
Properties in the downtown, Chinatown, Leather District and Fort Point are eligible to apply. Applications are due in June 2024. The program offers a 75 percent reduction in the normal residential tax rate, currently $10.74 per $1,000 of assessed value, for up to 29 years.
The Franklin Street property is currently assessed at $3.3 million and scheduled to pay $41,442 in property taxes at the commercial rate for the first half of fiscal 2024 under the commercial tax rate of $24.68 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to assessors’ records.
Known as the Henry Gustavus Dorr building, the brick and sandstone structure was originally completed in 1878. The property was last sold for $6.15 million in 2017 to Brookline-based Franklin 281 Realty Partners.
The conversion would set aside three apartments for households earning a maximum of 60 percent area median income. Developers estimate the market-rate apartments would rent for $5.50 to $6 per square foot.
The building’s upper floors are currently leased to office tenants Freudenheim Partners, Tutor Intelligence and Saam Architecture.
