CAMH considers revised Terrace St. condo proposal

The Community Alliance of Mission Hill (CAMH) met virtually on March 17, where it viewed a presentation by the developers of a property at 154 Terrace St. Around 20 members of the public were in attendance.

The development team includes Nicholas Zozula of McDermott, Quilty and Miller LLP; Phil Cohen and Drew Colbert from WinnCompanies; and Mike Doherty and Jeff Sargis from The Architectural Team. They previously appeared before CAMH in 2019.

The team presented a slideshow of the proposed development. The project was originally approved in 2008 to contain 100 units in ten stories, with a height of 96 feet and 48 parking spaces.

In 2020, the proposal was scaled down considerably to 64 units in six stories, a height of 69 feet and 27 parking spaces. That proposal had a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 5.4 and a square footage of just over 70,000.

The 2020 design offered only five two-bedroom units, compared to 59 one-bedroom units. The team examined this proposal under the lens of COVID, eventually realizing that larger units were in demand due to more people working from home.

The current proposal is for an 81-foot, seven-story building with 66 units and 24 parking spaces. It would have approximately 74,500 square feet and a FAR of 5.7. The design has increased the number of two-bedroom units to 18 for greater diversity.

Significantly, the distance from the adjoining property was increased from ten feet in 2020 to 30 feet in the current proposal. Presenters called it a “major design change.”

“It reduces the canyon effect and makes it two standalone buildings and projects,” said Cohen.

The project will be composed entirely of condos for homeownership and will impose restrictions on residential use, owner occupancy, and lease and rental occupancy.

“Throughout the community process, we heard that home ownership is the right use for this site,” said Cohen, emphasizing that units will be prioritized to people living in the community. “We don’t want these to be leased out. These won’t be investor units or Airbnb units.”

WinnCompanies plans to manage the condos once finished.

“We’ve been long-time community partners,” said Cohen. “We develop and hold properties for a long time.”

A traffic study is being conducted in the area to ensure that the project will not make navigating Terrace St. more difficult. The development team has committed funds to expand the study.

The team hopes to file a Notice of Project Change with the city within a few months. It will then launch a public input process, which will involve circling back to CAMH as well as the Zoning Board of Appeals. Accordingly, it could be several years before the project is complete, but Winn remains committed to working with the community.

This project is only the most recent on Terrace St. Last month we reported on properties currently being developed at 110-128R Terrace St. as well as Terrace Ave.

Also on the meeting agenda was an appearance by Endis Ventura to add a liquor license to his restaurant, Montecristo Mexican Grill at 748 Huntington Ave. An abutters meeting was held on March 2. However, Ventura failed to appear.

Due to the pandemic, the CAMH board elections that were supposed to have been held last year will now be held this coming May. Three board seats will be up for election, including president, clerk and treasurer.

CAMH meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7pm. Due to the coronavirus restrictions, all meetings will be held on Zoom for the foreseeable future.

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