The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) board last Thursday gave its greenlight to three Dorchester projects, paving the way for new senior housing, residences for the formerly homeless, and a car dealership near South Bay Mall.

Pine Street Inn’s pitch to convert a Hamilton Street eyesore into a three-story facility serving formerly homeless residents over 55 years of age won key approval. The existing warehouse at 123 Hamilton St. will come down under a plan by Trinity Green Investments LLC. It will be replaced with 52-unit building managed by the Pine Street Inn to house chronically homeless elders.

“As proposed, this project strongly aligns with Mayor Walsh’s charge to end veteran and chronic homelessness in Boston,” the BPDA noted in a press release.

Along with the affordable rental units, the 28,547-square-foot building will include 1,319 square feet of ground floor common space, a 400-square foot administrative suite and eight off-street parking spaces located in the building’s at-grade garage. It would create an additional 6,178 square feet of open space and green space.

Construction on the $8.5 million project is expected to begin in early 2017.

A proposed residential development at 16 Ronald St. would include a four-story building containing 54 affordable housing units. The proponent, Hearth, Inc. is pitching about 45,650 gross square feet of residences and recreation areas on a 34,528 square foot lot near the Fairmount commuter rail line. All apartments will be designated for residents over 62, according to the project proposal.

At least eight of the units will be for households earning at most 30 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), another 46 units will be for households earning between 30 and 60 percent AMI, with six total designated as both affordable units and ADA group two accessible units.

The $17.6 million project will likely require zoning relief for conditional uses and overall building size and unit quality relative to the lot size, since the parcel sits in a three-family subdistrict.

The BPDA board also approved a new car dealership and service facility for 202 Southampton St. near Newmarket.

According to the project proposal, Parss Enterprises, Inc., operating under the name Boston Foreign Motor, would remodel 1.96 acres of parcels at 14-28 Moore St. and 93 Cummings St. including a 1974 industrial building, and an existing stand-alone shed of approximately 1,900 square feet, which includes parcels at 14 Moore St. and 202 Southampton St.

Filling the space would be a one-story dealership with a showroom, customer support areas, business areas, and a full-service garage with about 21 service bays. The BPDA proposal also includes new paving, landscaping, site lighting, and 44 parking spaces for customers, employees, inventory vehicles, and vehicles in the process of repair.

The 22,400-square-foot dealership will cost approximately $4.5 million, according to the release.
The Dorchester projects joined eight more approvals across the city, for a combined investment of $295 million, according to a BPDA release.