After years of negotiations, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a project proposal by Equity Residential Thursday to renovate the Garden Garage into a one-building apartment residence, according to a Friday press release.
The Garden Garage, which is located at 35 Lomasney Way, next to TD Garden in Boston’s West End, currently features an above-ground garage space. Since 2010, Equity Residential has tried to replace this with affordable housing, which is in line with the mayor’s incentive to build new residences, according to a project change notice release by the BRA.
According to the notice, the reconstruction proposal has seen many changes from its original iteration, particularly the removal of two floors, which would reduce the building’s height from the initial goal of 46 stories to 44 stories, and 465 feet to 447 feet, respectively.
The release stated that a public testimony meeting caused the board to postpone a vote on the project.
“The board heard three hours of public testimony at last month’s meeting before deciding to postpone a vote on the project so that the development team could work to address concerns raised by community members and the board,” the release stated.
Nick Martin, a spokesperson for the BRA, said following the public testimony in January, the redevelopment initiative was met with significant opposition from residents and employees of the area.
Martin said Equity Residential altered the proposal to address concerns of sizing and massing, housing affordability and traffic and transportation impacts.
“The newest proposal includes removing 55 parking spots in an effort to address the traffic concern, upping [Equity Residential’s] contribution for affordable housing by $1.2 million to help the city create affordable housing units [and] scaling back the building slightly … for a more narrow profile,” Martin said.
Martin said from an urban design standpoint, the proposal fell in line with the buildings that already exist in the area and it made sense to finally approve the project after so many years. Furthermore, Equity Residential has offered a solution to the massive buildup of lines during events at the Garden.
“The developer made a deliberate effort to reconfigure the way that people would access the underground garage by adding another entrance on Lomasney Way to reduce queuing during major events at Garden,” Martin said.
Beyond providing 470 apartment units and a new underground garage, the development will provide an acre of new green space, which will improve landscaping and enhance the pedestrian experience.
Although receiving the approval from the BRA, Equity Residential now seeks the consent of the zoning commission, which would ultimately dictate its timeline in terms of the construction process.
The press release stated that the project will improve community connections in the area.
“Equity Residential expects the project to improve connections between the West End, North Station, and the Bullfinch Triangle,” the release stated. “New lighting, landscaping, and walkways will be installed, and the outdoor spaces will be available for community events.”
Several Boston residents said the project sounded intriguing but might negatively impact things such as traffic.
Grace Randall, 22, of Dorchester, said she was excited at the prospect of an increase in business in spite of the potential traffic it would bring.
“I think it will do really well and create more business,” she said. “It might cause a little bit of traffic and there’s already so much of it here, so it probably will make it worse. But most of the people here take public transportation anyway.”
Jennifer Bradley, 26, of the North End, said though she did not look forward to additional traffic, she would be glad to have more housing in Boston.
“Traffic is never fun, but Boston is always growing,” she said. “If you keep growing, you need to have new housing to fit that, and that seems like it would be a good area.”
Mary Nguyen, 56, of Dorchester, said she thought the buildings would bring positive attention to the area.
“It will definitely bring more traffic,” she said. “That can be a good thing because the businesses there will thrive, and more housing is always a good thing in a big city like Boston.”
The article does not cite any comments from a West End resident. As a resident of the West End I would like to correct this oversight. The entire process of community involvement related to this project is a façade or more accurately, a farce. Contrary to what has been reported in the press there really has never bee any negotiates between Equity and the community. The project is as Equity wanted it to be minus 2 floors and 24 inches in mass. As far as parking is concerned the garage will now house more cars than it previously did. I do not see how anyone can reasonable state that the concerns of the West End residents were even considered in light of the Board approval.