A Dorchester-based developer unveiled plans for a 5-story, 25-unit condo building on Granite Avenue abutting Cedar Grove Cemetery during a virtual meeting organized by the Boston Planning Dept. on Monday evening that drew about 50 participants.
The building, with 25 below-grade parking spaces, would rise on what is now an unoccupied lot at 157 Granite Ave. between the Shields MRI commercial building and a 40-unit apartment building.

The proponent, Denis Keohane, secured the lot from the cemetery several years ago in a bid process, but the pandemic and extensive rock ledge on the site have made it a challenge to build on.

Keohane’s proposed building features stone, brick, and metal panels for materials, with a pitched roof at 55 feet. The first floor would contain parking, while floors two to four would be living space, and the fifth floor attic living space. Units would be two-bedrooms (from 965 to 1,300 square feet) and one-bedrooms (from 670 to 810 square feet).

Keohane said the effects of construction work on the site will be minimized due to a new process using a large drill bit and expanding liquid that breaks up the rock.

“There will be no blasting, and the hammering will be very minimal because we’ll just be able to pull out the broken rock,” he noted.
George Morancy, Keohane’s attorney, said that city planning officials have also requested that Keohane seek a zoning change for the lot and the adjacent lots to re-designate them as a Multi-Family Residential (MRF) district. The Shields MRI building owner has agreed to the change, but the existing condo building ownership next door has not, Morancy said.

Participants on the call were largely supportive overall, and many said the building looked very nice. However, some raised concerns about parking and the building’s height and density, and more information was requested for how the intersection at Hill Top Street and Granite Avenue would operate with the entrance/exit right at the light.

Lynn Woods, Eddie Welch, and Jamie Joyce of the abutting area were wary of parking being on the “outskirts” of Boston, fearing overflow would spill onto residential streets.

“[The policies] force people to not have a car, but people still have cars,” said Woods. “You can’t look at this development in this neighborhood like every other neighborhood in Boston.”

Morancy noted they are at the “optimum” for parking, and feared if they added more, it “might run afoul of the city’s parking policies.”

Keohane said units would be targeted to millennials (age 30-40) and trends show many don’t have cars while noting that his developments in Dorchester have many empty parking spaces. “We’re putting in 25 spaces and we probably won’t fill half of them,” he said.

Some neighbors were skeptical.

“The theory that young people do not have cars with them is nonsense,” said Sean Feeney. “In many homes in the area that are converted to condominiums, the high cost of rent causes numerous additional tenants who bring with them their vehicles. Look at the area of Minot Street between Adams and Branton.”

Woods, a police officer, said they find young residents do bring cars, but they register them in the suburbs with their parents to save on insurance costs.

Tom Cox was supportive of a project on the site, but felt this specific building is too big. “It seems a little much for this site,” he said. “There’s no other five-story building from the exit all the way to Adams Village.”

Morancy noted that city planners are supportive of the height and size of the building, saying, “The plan didn’t get developed in a vacuum; we did go through an agency planning process.”

Questions remain on the zoning change to an MFR zone and what that will mean for other commercial buildings at the corner, and concerns about the functionality of the stoplight need a more thorough review in upcoming meetings, according to Planning Department project manager Zoe Schutte.