The Zoning Board of Appeal today approved an 18-unit condo building on Washington Street at Archdale Road, and plans for nine apartments on three new floors to be added to what is now a one-story building on Poplar Street in Roslindale Square.
The Boston Building Co. of Pittsfield will replace what is now an auto-repair shop with a four-story building with a roof deck, ground-floor retail space and 18 parking spaces.
Two of the units will be sold as affordable.
The board approved the proposal on the condition the developer and BPDA designers figure out how to reduce the size of what board member Mark Erlich called excessively large headhouses on the roof.
Also today, the board approved Todd Martin's plan to add three floors with nine one-bedroom apartments to 25-29 Poplar St. in Roslindale Square - bringing the building back to its original height before a fire decades ago. The building will have no parking spaces.
As part of their approval, board members also called for Martin to consult extensively with BPDA designers to ensure his current barebones design does not end up as what board Chairwoman Christine Araujo called "one of those boxes that we see everywhere these days" but instead fits in with the surrounding area.
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Comments
Looks like the cars are
By anon
Tue, 09/29/2020 - 3:38pm
Looks like the cars are parked on sidewalk. How about an urban design that includes trees, benches and bike racks?
I see trees in the rendering.
By Lorna
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 10:52am
I see trees in the rendering. Also there is an underbuilding garage that probably has a bike rack in it. Every new property I've seen does.
bpda designers
By bikenerd
Tue, 09/29/2020 - 4:21pm
what a laugh that bpda designers are capable... Has anyone seen the new bare bones facade on Heath Street near Lenox Martell? It's like a building from the Heath Street projects walked across the street to make both sides depressing.
contemporary architecture can be quite good...and yet in the wrong hands, quite awful
Fits in with the surrounding area
By Rozzie_anon
Tue, 09/29/2020 - 5:16pm
So the ZBA wants it to look like one of the bleak vinyl boxes on archdale, or that horrible fypon plastic “traditional” garbage further down Washington? I really hope we don’t end up with the abomination on Cummins after they went from a nice contemporary design to some weird Swiss chalet thing.
The upper floors on the rendering look fine. The lower floors need to be more glassy and open if it’s retail.
No ...
By adamg
Tue, 09/29/2020 - 9:00pm
First, they didn't say anything about the design of the Washington Street building except for the ginormous headhouses on the roof, which are not shown in the rendering above.
But the comment about boxes was about the "actual design to come later" rendering for the Poplar Street proposal. And the board has, in fact, publicly stated it's tired of buildings like the ones up in Forest Hills.
I don’t know why I’m hung up on this
By Waquiot
Tue, 09/29/2020 - 10:09pm
Boston Building Co. of Pittsfield?
Where are
By Brent Jeffries
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 12:53am
the barbed wire fences and guard towers?
And where will the parking be
By anon
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 8:20am
And where will the parking be?
there's a garage underneath
By Lorna
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 10:54am
there's a garage underneath on the first level.
Chairwoman Araujo has the
By Alex Sm
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 9:25am
Chairwoman Araujo has the same complaint any time any new housing is proposed in Roslindale where she lives. It's a neighborhood of mostly two and three family buildings, brick apartment buildings, and some small single family homes. What character of the neighborhood is she exactly talking about here? It's not Florence, Italy.