Image courtesy of Stantec
A parking lot in Boston’s Chinatown will be redeveloped with a new permanent Boston Public Library branch and 110 income-restricted apartments and condominiums under a pending proposal by the Asian Community Development Corp.
The Chinatown nonprofit was selected by the Boston Planning and Development Agency in April as developer of the 0.4-acre parcel R-1, located at 48-58 Tyler St. and 49-63 Hudson St.
ACDC is proposing a 146,000-square-foot multifamily complex, including 66 apartments and 44 condominiums, and a 17,000-square-foot library branch on the ground floor. The neighborhood had lacked a library branch for more than 50 years before a 1,500-square-foot temporary branch opened in 2018 in the basement of the BPDA-owned China Trade Center building at 2 Boylston St.
In a letter of intent submitted to the BPDA this week, ACDC said the 12-story building at parcel R-1 will require zoning relief for uses and dimensional requirements.
The parcels include surface parking that has been leased to Tufts Shared Services Inc. in recent years.
In its request for proposals, the BPDA asked developers to include at least 50 percent income-restricted units. The ACDC project will be 100-percent affordable at a “range of income levels,” according to the letter from ACDC Executive Director Angie Liou.
The Stantec-designed building will include a glazed brick and glass curtain wall facade, and LED lighting programmed with animation sequences at night, according to the team’s 2021 submission.
ACDC had previously proposed a new library branch at another BPDA-owned site at 290 Tremont St., known as parcel P-12C, as part of a 168-unit housing and hotel development. That project stalled after losing a potential source of funding from MP Boston’s Winthrop Center off-site affordable housing obligations, as the developers temporarily switched plans from condos to apartments at the Federal Street tower. Asian CDC’s designation to developer parcel P-12C subsequently expired.
