Conversion of office space into residential units in three downtown buildings approved

The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved the conversion of offices in buildings on Washington, Water and Devonshire streets downtown into 95 apartments, under a city tax-abatement program aimed at encouraging that.

Developer Kambiz Shahbazi's planned $36-million redo of the buildings - which would combine them into a single building - would include 16 units rented to people making no more than 60% of the Boston area median income, his attorney, John Pulgini, told the zoning board. Another three units would be made available to people with Section 8 vouchers, he said.

The units would be divided into 29 studios, 59 1-bedroom units and 12 12 2-bedroom units he said. There would be no dedicated parking for residents.

Ground-floor retail space in the buildings - including the space now leased by Falafel King - would remain.

Under the city's downtown office-to-residential pilot, Shahbazi will be eligible for up to a 29-year break on property taxes for the project, through an abatement of up to 75% of the buildings' assessed value. The city program is aimed at both filling office space that has gone vacant since the start of the pandemic in 2020 and providing more housing in the city.

Pulgini said that since the start of the pandemic, office occupancy in the three buildings - 5 Devonshire, 262 Washington and 258 Washington streets - has dropped to just 20%.

The project needed zoning-board approval because, as residences, it does not meet the city minimum for "open space," such as gardens or balconies.

The then BPDA board approved the project in April.

85 Devonshire St. filings.