The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) board approved last month the Art Park redevelopment, which is a project to turn City-owned land between Parker and Terrace Streets into community gardens and residential and retail space.
The developer, Sebastian Mariscal Studio, Inc. (SMS), has proposed to redevelop the Art Park site into 44 apartments with 10 affordable-housing units, 58,000 square feet of green space and 4,000 square feet of retail space. The site will have 30 parking spaces and 82 bike-parking spaces.
The rents of the apartments will range from $1,800 to $3,200.
The site will also have community gardens on the roof of the buildings, along with a solar-panel farm towards the Terrace Street side. It is expected to be LEED-certified platinum, which is the construction industry’s highest energy-efficient rating. The site is slated to produce more energy than it will use.
The BRA and the City’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) have been working together for about two years to redevelop the Art Park site. The Art Park is an area with murals, mosaic footpath tiles and colorful furniture. The park would be dismantled, but some elements might be incorporated in the redeveloped site.
At the beginning, there were many critics of redeveloping the Art Park site, but many were won over by the end of the process.