Brookline, MA City Realty Group, a community-focused real estate company, has filed applications for Project Eligibility Letters (PEL) from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (MassHousing) for its property at 1280-1330 Boylston St. This 5.34-acre site located on Boylston St. (Rte. 9) on the Newton border represents one of the area’s most significant development opportunities in decades. The site is currently home to the Chestnut Hill Office Park, comprising four commercial buildings built between 1964-1966 totaling 120,000 s/f.

These applications are the first step towards receiving comprehensive permits allowing residential development on the site.

“It’s clear to anyone driving by that a suburban office park is not the best use for a location of this caliber,” said Fred Starikov, managing partner at City Realty. “This site represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring new life to a deteriorating stretch of such an important area.”

The proposal for the site, which is to develop two separate residential developments on an east and west portion of the site, will include a total of 783 multifamily units across four buildings. The project on the Western Parcel will contain two seven-story buildings containing 243 units. The project on the Eastern Parcel will contain two 12-story buildings featuring 540 units.

The buildings contain a mixture of studios, one bedroom, two bedrooms, and three bedrooms. As part of the 40B approval process, 25% of the units would be affordable to households making no more than 80% of the area’s median income with an option for preference for local residents.

Since receiving authorization from the Select Board in the fall of 2023, the town’s Economic Development Division began the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study and formed a Community Advisory Group to support this staff lead effort. The town study is focused on the areas along Boylston St. with a focus on opportunities for significant growth in commercial development.

As the largest parcel in the study area and the site most ready for immediate development, 1280-1330 Boylston has been identified as a lynchpin for the town’s goals for the area. Since putting this property under contract, City Realty has been supporting the town’s efforts to plan for a new transit-oriented, mixed-use district and worked diligently with the Town to develop multiple mixed-use development proposals that serve to meet the town’s stated goals.

However, some neighborhood opposition has led to repeated delays and shifting priorities for the rezoning process, raising serious doubts about when this rezoning will take place and whether significant development will be possible when it does. The absence of a clear timeline and urgency to deliver a zoning plan that allows for a feasible development has driven City Realty to explore all available options for the property, including the opportunity to develop the property through the 40B process.

“We believe our earlier proposals represented a vibrant mix of retail, medical, hospitality and residential uses that addressed the various town goals for the site and we would love to continue with that vision,” said Cliff Kensington, Director of Acquisitions for City Realty and Project Lead, “However, we are also experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis in Massachusetts and this residential focused proposal for the site’s development can serve as an equally valuable opportunity to address the housing supply shortage with a true transit-oriented residential project that would aid in town-wide and regional housing goals.”

City Realty is represented by Robert L. Allen, Jr. and Jennifer Dopazo Gilbert at RLAW, P.C. in Brookline Village for its zoning and permitting needs as well as Jesse D. Schomer of Dain Torpy for its 40B application.