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Image courtesy of Elkus Manfredi Architects
New England Development’s proposed 240-unit apartment building at its Bunker Hill Mall property is the first step in a potential larger redevelopment of the 6-acre Rutherford Avenue retail property.
The Boston-based developer submitted plans for the first phase of the development, a seven-story, 206,000-square-foot building which would include compact living designs for a majority of the 240 units and a 20 percent affordability component on-site.
While other tenants at the Whole Foods Market-anchored property operate under long-term leases, the retail center eventually may be redeveloped with new ground-floor retail space below another 250 multifamily units, New England Development stated in a project notification form submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
The first phase of the project, currently beginning BPDA review, calls for 128 of the 240 units in the new building to be built under the city’s compact living policy. The regulation limits maximum sizes of studio apartments to 450 square feet and one-bedroom units to 650 square feet, while requiring developers to provide larger common areas.
The professionally managed shared amenities areas span 10,000 square feet on the first and second floors, including a lounge, co-working and meeting areas, kitchen, gaming room, fitness center and pet wash on the second floor connected to a roof deck.
The compact living policy also gives developers relief from normal parking ratios at properties near transit stops. New England Development proposes 49 parking spaces for the new building, which is located a three-minute walk from the MBTA’s Community College station.
The income-restricted component of the development would include 31 units reserved for households at a maximum 70 percent of area median income, and another 17 units at 80- to 120-percent of area median income.
In December, BPDA directors approved Boston’s largest compact living-style development to date, LBC Boston’s 349-unit Allston Green.
