1252-1270 Boylston St.

Developer Scape’s revised plans for the Fenway neighborhood call for three residential towers containing 1,357 units, including a 220-unit affordable housing tower at 2 Charlesgate West.

The previous owner, Trans National Properties, had proposed a 29-story tower that drew opposition from neighborhood residents and the Boston Red Sox. Scape said it will reduce the building’s height by more than 50 percent.

The developer also proposes 477 furnished apartments at 1252-1270 Boylston St., where it previously had planned to build a 533-unit coliving complex. And it’s partnering with Boston Children’s Hospital on a 445-unit complex at 819 Beacon St., with another 50 residences for patient families.

Boston’s inclusionary development policy requires a minimum 13 percent affordable units on-site in new multifamily projects. Developers that don’t include on-site affordable units are required to pay a fee to support affordable housing creation in the same neighborhood.

The 220 affordable units at Two Charlesgate would count as the off-site units for the Boylston and Beacon street properties.

“This unprecedented production of affordable housing units will have an immediate, major positive impact as only 212 IDP affordable housing units have been delivered in the neighborhood over the past 20 years,” Scape North America CEO Andrew Flynn wrote in a submission to the Boston Planning and Development Agency Tuesday.

The affordable units would comprise the high-rise portion of the 2 Charlesgate building, while the podium level would be reserved for housing for Fenway-area colleges and institutions, Scape said.

Scape bought the 2 Charlesgate West property last year for $39 million from Trans National Properties, which had proposed a 29-story tower including 195 apartments and condos in 2016.

1252-1270 Boylston St. has been redesigned with 477 apartments rented under minimum one-year leases and a prohibition on short-term rentals such as Airbnb. A LGBTQ-centric black box theater would span 10,000 square feet with capacity for 156 seats.

Scape Increases Affordable Housing in Fenway Projects

by Steve Adams time to read: 1 min
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