Image courtesy of Cambridge Seven
The Great Scott nightclub will be reincarnated at the base of a 139-apartment building in Allston that received approval Thursday by the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
The Noannet Group of Boston is partnering with Great Scott talent buyer Carl Lavin to recreate the former fixture of Allston nightlife in a new development at 1 Harvard Ave.
“Around Boston and Allston, small music venues have been going away. Our team is the landlord and the tenant, which is an important recipe to make sure it doesn’t follow the fate of so many venues we’ve lost, from the Channel to the Rat to so many others,” Noannet Group President Jordan Warshaw said during a presentation to the BPDA board.
The board approved five development projects totaling 591 housing units at its monthly meeting.
Designed by Cambridge Seven architects, the estimated $50 million Great Scott project includes 139 apartments above a new music venue with capacity for 300 patrons, and reconstruction of O’Brien’s Pub which occupies a portion of the property at Harvard and Cambridge Streets.
Great Scott was displaced from its 44-year home at 1222 Commonwealth Ave. in 2020, where it was a tenant and was replaced by a Taco Bell.
That won’t be a threat at the new 11-story building, where the residential space will subsidize the nightclub portion.
“It will be set up to succeed in the long term,” Warshaw said.
The upper floors will include 139 apartments, 21 of which will be income-restricted.
WEEI Redevelopment Approved in Brighton
In Brighton, the Audacy radio station studios property at 83 Leo Birmingham Parkway will be redeveloped as a 333-unit apartment project by Burlington-based Nordblom Co.
An 8-story, 363,150 square-foot apartment building with 175 internal parking will be built on the 2-acre site. The estimated project cost is $115 million, according to a BPDA memo.
Nordblom acquired the site in March from Audacy, owner of four local radio stations including WEEI.
In Mission Hill, the board approved a 5-story, 38-unit apartment building at 36 Parker Hill Ave., and in Roslindale, a 46-unit apartment building was approved at 586-598 Canterbury St.
And a former manufacturing building at 98-100 Condor St. in East Boston will be renovated as 35 apartments in a project approved under the PLAN: East Boston rezoning enacted in 2024.
Nordblom Co. plans to build 330 apartments on the former site of the WEEI radio station in Brighton. Image courtesy of Stantec
