Nine-unit condo building approved for Everett Street in Jamaica Plain

The Board of Appeals yesterday approved nine new condos in a three-story Victorian-style building at 16 Everett St., on land that had sat vacant since the state seized it in the 1960s for construction of the interstate highway that never was.

Lee Goodman, of developer Watermark Construction, said his company came up with the idea of a more classic design, rather than something modern, after meetings with neighbors.

He added that this also explains why the proposal included only one parking space per unit, less than required: More parking would have required paving over land above the roots of a 200-year-old oak tree on the site, and neighbors decided they'd rather try to preserve the tree than include more parking on the lot, which is a short walk from the Green Street T stop.

Some revenue from the project will help to subsidize an eight-unit affordable-housing project the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. is planning nearby.

Nobody spoke against the proposal.