Image courtesy of Utile
A multi-phase Mission Hill development could see a planned office building swapped out for more affordable housing under plans submitted to Boston officials last week.
Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services, a neighborhood community development corporation, has already built a 40-unit, all-affordable apartment building in its Parcel 25 development next to the MBTA’s Roxbury Crossing station. That building also includes an Eastern Bank branch and nonprofit office space on the site. In addition, it is nearing completion on a 46-unit affordable apartment building that makes up the project’s second phase.
A third phase was originally permitted to include 161,500 square feet of office space, but a new proposal the developer filed with the Boston Planning & Development Agency Sept. 22 would see that 160-foot-tall tower replaced with a 6-story building with 94 affordable apartments over a 33-space parking area that would largely serve the development’s existing office and retail tenants. Ninety-four sheltered bicycle parking spaces would be included for tenants, along with a package room and a community room, but no other amenities are noted on the plans, which also include a laundry room. on the top floor.
The office space was originally intended to be the development’s “economic engine,” the application states, but is now being swapped out for housing after “years of pursuit” yielded no potential tenants and rising construction cost and a better understanding of site conditions meant that a 10-story office tower with “multiple” floors of underground parking was no longer financially viable.
“[The revised development] aims to address the dire need for additional affordable rental housing in the Mission Hill neighborhood, which the Proponent submits has been clearly demonstrated by the 3,100 applicants for the most recent 46-units at the Parcel 25 Phase 2 Project,” Patricia Flaherty, executive director of Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services, wrote in the application’s cover letter.
