A developer has proposed replacing a small parking structure at 226 Magnolia St. with a $4-million, four-story building with 28 small studio apartments and a roof topped with solar panels.

Shanti Acquisition of Dorchester filed its plans with the BPDA under Boston's "compact living" pilot, which allows units smaller than normally required as one way to lower the prices of the units. In this case, most of the units would range from 356 to 398 square feet, rather than the minimum 450 square feet the city normally would require for new studios, - three units would be 471 square feet.

Four of the apartments would be rented as affordable.

Shanti is owned by Solmon and Rokeya Chowdhury, who both develop small residential projects and run the Shanti Indian restaurants in Dorchester and Roslindale.

The building, which would back up against Ceylon Park, has no parking but would have storage for up to 50 bicycles.

In addition to the BPDA, the project will need a number of variances from the zoning board, including ones because of the lot's small size - 5,772 square feet - the building's height and density on the lot and its closeness to lot lines and the lack of parking.

226 Magnolia St. documents and schedule.