New five-story building proposed on Terrace St.

A new five-story development proposal at 111 Terrace St. on Mission Hill is under review by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). Out of 42 residential units, the proposed project would have five affordable units, including one for artist housing.

The property currently consists of 11,889 square feet of land, and consists of a three-story residential apartment of 2,732 square feet and is otherwise paved and utilized as a parking and tow lot area. The developers are proposing a new five-story, 42-unit residential building, consisting of approximately 31,862 square feet, 21 parking spaces, and 48 bike parking spaces. The building will have a mix of unit sizes, including 12 studios, 25 one-bedrooms, and 4 two-bedrooms. Some units will have access to private roof terraces or balconies on the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors. Five of these will be affordable units, including one artist live/work space.

The developers, Mark Blotner and Mark Cabral, working with Lighthouse Architects, submitted their small project review application to BPDA on June 8. There was a community meeting regarding the project at the Tobin Community Center on July 19.

According to Bonnie McGilpin, director of Communications at BPDA, the meeting was lightly attended by about five to ten people and there was no strong opinion either opposing or supporting the development. She reported that attendees had a number of questions and suggestions, including storm-water and ground water retention/recharge systems; a desire to see home ownership opportunities; no undergraduate student housing; no short-term rentals; general comments on the building design, including ground level of the building and how it interacts with the public realm; and interest on how wide the new sidewalks would be.

Michael P. Ross, representing the developers, said that the community process is “progressing” and that the development team has received “valuable feedback from residents and groups.”

“We believe that the meetings have been very helpful in shaping our project, which we are continuing to do,” said Ross, who used to be the city councilor representing Mission Hill. “Working with the City of Boston, we have decided to extend the comment period in order to make sure people have had a chance to respond to the project. We look forward to our continued engagement with the community and delivering a quality project to Mission Hill.”

Chad Rosner, president of Community Alliance of Mission Hill (CAMH), said that he personally supports the project because he said it would “turn a pretty ugly tow lot into an active part of our community.”

CAMH has decided to delay voting on project until September so they could get answers to some questions the community had about the project. The CAMH narrowly voted to approve 9 Burney St.

Rosner also supported the nearby 9 Burney St. project, which will be a similar size.

“I think they would provide much needed housing and would improve the areas of Mission Hill they are located in,” Rosner said.

Rosner did have concerns about both projects.

“Both projects are rather large and depending on how much they charge for rent might continue the upward trend of rents in the neighborhood,” Rosner said.

Rosner thinks he has similar views as his neighbors who have also attended meetings on the projects, except for concerns about traffic since he does not own a car.

The comment period is now open, and residents can submit their comments at https://bit.ly/2Ao0P0Z.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.