August 27, 2024
Rendering of proposed Boston Street complex by Khalsa Design.
The Zoning Board of Appeal on Tuesday approved a local developer's plans for a 90-unit apartment building at 115-121 Boston St. in Dorchester.
The units in Adam Burns's new complex - with one wing five stories, the other six - will be smaller in size than normally allowed, under the city's "compact living" pilot - of between 450 square feet for studios up to 950 square feet for three-bedroom units. Some 15 units will be rented as affordable.
The proposal calls for a garage with 57 parking spaces - 41 for residents, the rest for patrons of the gym and cafe/juice bar planned for the ground floor. Burns's attorney, George Morancy, said the site is a short walk from the Andrew Square Red Line stop and the Newmarket Square stop on the Fairmount Line.
In addition to new housing, the complex will have an unusual public benefit: An easement that will let the owner of the Scrubadub car wash next door on West Howell Street add a queuing area for cars once the car wash is upgraded. Morancy said this queuing area will end neighborhood complaints about people with dirty cars clogging up West Howell and Boston streets waiting for a wash.
The project needed zoning-board approval because it would be larger and taller than allowed under its lot's zoning. Also, the cafe and juice bar would offer takeout, which requires a once-over by the board.
The BPDA approved the project in April.
