ACA unhappy with 1270 Comm Ave.

[Anthony D'Isidoro]

ACA unhappy with 1270 Comm Ave. (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: May 25, 2023) 

The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met on Wednesday, May 17, with the developers for the site at 1270 Commonwealth Ave. in Allston. 

The location is currently a vacant former CVS, just south of Packard’s Corner. It’s being developed by Hines Real Estate proposing a new 189,000-square-foot, 206-unit residential rental building. 

Greater Boston Hines Director Matt McCollem said the development is focused on public realm improvements and, after hearing feedback from community members, has increased its affordable unit count (affordable as defined by the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy [IDP]) from 13 percent to 17 percent, totaling eight affordable units. 

CBT Architects’ Rob Hagan said the development team did an analysis of parks close to the site and he said if you exclude Brookline and focus on Allston, there are about five parks that are half-a-mile away. 

“There’s tremendous opportunity for the development team to contribute to the open space and park space in Allston and Brighton,” he said, presumably in relation to the claim that they are currently in talks with the Boston Parks Department to contribute to a fund for open space. How much is being proposed was not disclosed. 

He also said they are dedicating 5,000 square feet to the public realm, which works out to about 10 percent of the site. They are adding 20 street trees, upgrading all sidewalks to Complete Streets standards, and removing two curb cuts. 

They are aiming for .36 to .33 parking spaces per unit, amounting to about 60 or so in total. 

“We’ve also proposed to target an all-electric building to be compliant with carbon net-zero zoning,” he said. 

Members of the ACA, at least those who spoke during this portion of the meeting, were not happy with the development, or the developer for that matter. 

ACA member Christine Varriale first asked the company about lawsuits that have been mentioned during Boston Planning and Development (BPDA) public meetings and Impact Advisory Group (IAG) meetings. 

“It seems like there’s some general concerns about this developer, Hines, regarding issues with lawsuits of previous buildings due to (allegedly) negligent construction,” she said. “That’s a huge concern for me. I want to make sure they are safe buildings for people to live in.” 

Several residents discussed the lawsuits. Hines was sued last year in San Francisco when apparently a burst pipe in one of its 36-story buildings caused massive flooding – to the tune of 20,000 gallons – and the evacuation of many of the 403 unit residents in the building. Tenants suing the company allege that Hines, which managed the building and is looking to manage 1270 Comm Ave., knew the building had plumbing problems. Hines did provide temporary housing for its tenants. 

In 2018, landlord company Southstar sued Hines for allegedly covering up construction defects in one of its Celebration, Florida, buildings before the company bought the building from Hines in 2016. 

McCollem said Hines has been in business for 65 years and has had a Boston office for 35 years and that the company has developed more than 1,700 units and 500,000,000 square feet. 

“Those particular lawsuits, I don’t think anyone here on our team from Hines has any information to dispell or discuss any of those because we don’t have exposure to those projects or those regions,” he said. “But we do have a best-in-class reputation among our partners, general contractors and people we work with.” 

Benenson Capital Company owns the parcel and will be managing the building with Hines. Benenson’s Richard Kessler said the company has owned the property since 1972. 

“We did an exhaustive study of development companies around the globe, and just so you know, I’ve been doing this for 40 years, to find the best developer for a number of projects Benenson has been working on, and we have determined through our experience, that the best world-class developer is the Hines Company,” he said. “So the fact that a company, who’s building all over the world, has a couple of lawsuits should not really be of concern to any]body on this call, because they are a global, best-in-class developer.” 

Kessler added that he’s been hearing this quite a bit in the recent IAG and BPDA meetings. 

“And quite frankly it’s upsetting that this is what we’re focused on,” he said. 

ACA member Tom Leonard had some issues of his own with the building and the plan. 

“Seventeen percent affordability, well I think that is too low,” he said. 

Leonard pointed out Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is requesting that large projects commit to 20 percent affordability. 

“And this misses the mark,” he said. 

Leonard said the lack of greenspace on the site is also concerning. 

“When you show a map with all the parks in a certain radius, you know, I also think it’s disappointing to include parks in Brookline because this project is located in Allston Brighton,” he said. 

Leonard said he also felt it problematic that Hines has not committed to 100 percent Boston Union labor. 

“I can’t support the project until those three areas are addressed,” he said. 

McCollem said Hines is “committed to maximizing union participation” on the project. 

“If we can use a full union job on this we will,” he said. 

For more information on the project and to comment on the Draft Project Impact Report, go to the BPDA project page at https://bit.ly/3BMkPHu