Developer unwraps plans for complete rebuild and expansion of Faneuil Gardens development in Brighton

The Community Builders has filed plans with the BPDA to replace the 1940s barracks-like apartment buildings at Faneuil Gardens, off Faneuil and North Beacon streets, with five taller buildings that would have apartments for current residents and 183 apartments for new tenants - as well as a new community center and a tree-lined pedestrian "boulevard."

The Boston Housing Agency selected the non-profit developer to help it remake the complex, which has not seen any major capital improvements in 70 years, in the latest example of the agency working with a private concern to rebuild a federally funded development for which the federal government long ago gave up financing.

Following seventy years without significant capital improvements, the buildings are in poor condition; the units are substantially smaller than City of Boston and State square footage guidelines, the Site is deeply energy inefficient, all buildings lack a proper second means of egress, there are no accessible buildings or units, and most materials and systems are beyond the end of their useful lives.

The current 600 or so residents, living in 258 apartments on the 7.5-acre site, would be guaranteed new units in the new complex, to be built in five phases. The 183 additional units would be rented to people making between 30% and 120% of the Boston area median income.

The buildings would rise as high as seven stories, although with some three-story wings.

Ten apartments would be set aside as "live/work" units aimed at residents with an entrepreneurial bent. In contrast to most other live/work proposals in recent years, not all of these units would be aimed at artists.

The proposal calls for 154 parking spaces in surface lots - far cheaper to build than garages - ground-floor retail space and realignment of the buildings and walkways to make it feel more a part of the surrounding neighborhood and less of an isolated complex. This would include a pedestrian "table" on Faneuil Street to force drivers to slow down and not slam into kids crossing the street to McKinney Park.

In addition to the pedestrian boulevard, the 3.6 acres of open space in the proposal would include courtyards for each of the residential buildings featuring benches and tables.

Faneuil Gardens filings and meeting schedule.