Revamped proposal for Beacon Street housing development doesn’t quell opposition
The plan looks to build a 15-story apartment building with more than 500 units in Audubon Circle, near Boston Children's Hospital.
The controversy over the proposed Beacon Street housing project by British student housing developer Scape is not abating.
The proposal calls for building a 15-story apartment building with more than 500 units on a parking lot in the Audubon Circle neighborhood, near Boston Children’s Hospital.
According to an article published by Bisnow, the online commercial real estate news site, Scape Beacon first proposed to build 1,300 units of student housing at 1252 Boylston St. and at the site of the Trans National Building at 2 Charlesgate West in 2018.
After initial complaints within the community that Scape’s Boston-based affiliate, Scape Beacon, had proposed plans for a dormitory-style building aimed at student populations, Scape Beacon filed an Expanded Project Notification in September with the Boston Planning and Development Agency for a 280,000-square-foot housing development to be built, with an added 118,000-square-foot underground parking garage.
The current project notification filed with the BPDA calls for the development at 819 Beacon St. to have 500 housing units, including a multifamily component and 53 designated for families of Children’s Hospital patients.
“After community opposition, Scape changed its strategy last year to focus on the broader [housing] market. The Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association argues that Scape’s apartments at 819 Beacon are designed to attract college students anyway, since they are mostly studios and come pre-furnished,” noted the BisNow article.
Part of the opposition seems to be that with either one of Scape’s plans and pronouncements, the development includes no affordable housing, does not give back to the community, and may even harm it by encouraging a transient population with no personal investment in the area. Thus, while the proposal might not specify student housing, the housing is of a type suited to students, opponents argue.
Scape’s new proposal does offer community amenities, however, including a 5,000-square-foot public plaza fronting Beacon Street and a two-way cycle track along Maitland Street. Infrastructure such as new sidewalks, street lights, and park benches would be added.
How would the project fulfill the city’s mandate that 13 percent of a development’s units be deemed affordable? The developer responded to Boston.com with a screen shot of its filing: “The Proponent is committed to exploring a range of options for the delivery of affordable housing including onsite and offsite in the neighborhoods (pursuant to the Inclusionary Development Policy).
There are also arguments that physically and aesthetically, Scape’s development is out of step with the lower-rise row houses that give Audubon Circle its character. Acclaimed architectural firm Gensler is tapped to design the building in conjunction with British firm Ab Rogers Design.
At the end of September, the BPDA announced a further extension for the public comment period for the Scape Boston development to Oct. 16.
When contacted for comment, Scape Beacon was unable to provide an interview. A representative offered this statement from Scape North America CEO Andrew Flynn via e-mail:
“We look forward to continuing our collaborative engagement process with the Audubon Circle neighborhood and cultivating alignment across all stakeholders,” Flynn said. “We are proud to partner with Boston Children’s Hospital to deliver a special family housing component as part of the proposed project.”
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