New Balance unveils proposal for six-story condo building on North Beacon Street in Brighton

New Balance's development wing last week filed plans with the BPDA to replace a vacant one-story warehouse at 131 North Beacon St., at Hichborn Street in Brighton, with a six-story, 76-unit condo building.

The proposed building on a half-acre site, the latest in an area that New Balance and others have been transforming from low-density commercial and industrial uses into apartments, condos and higher-density office and lab space, would have ground-floor retail space.

Some 13 units would be sold as affordable.

The building would have 48 parking spaces, roughly 10 equipped with at least Level 2 (208-240 volts) EV charging and WiFi.

In its filing, the company discusses the challenges of designing a building on a street now known mainly as a place to drive through:

Improving the public realm on this site is a crucial piece in shaping a pedestrian experience that transitions from the auto-centric urban character of North Beacon Street to the pedestrian campus through and along Guest Street. The proposal enhances the public realm in a variety of ways – planting new street trees capable of thriving in southern and eastern light exposures; planning for new ground floor retail, including city bikes and bicycle parking spaces to feed traffic from the proposed North Beacon bike lane; and adding street furniture and street lighting to activate pedestrian usage. ...

On the ground plane, varied street tree species, new plantings, and generous expansions of the public realm work to define a strong sense of pedestrian friend placemaking.

131 North Beacon St. filings and meeting schedule.