Alpha Management project sparks landlord debate
Anthony D'Isidoro
Alpha Management project sparks landlord debate
City Realty updates Allston Square timeline (Jeff Sullivan, The Bulletin: July 29, 2021)
The Allston Civic Association (ACA) met on July 21 and heard from several developers proposing projects in the neighborhood.
During the meeting, Drago & Toscano attorney Jeff Drago updated the ACA on the project at 14 Gardner St. Drago said the developer, Nora LLC, has reduced the overall size of the project while increasing the open space and affordable unit count, and while some residents appreciated the changes, many had issues with the company supposedly coming to manage the property afterwards.
Drago said the project has four stories with 38 residential units and 25 parking spaces. He said the affordable units went from five to seven units, making the total affordable percentage of units 18.5 percent. Also, he said they have also increased the green roof and balcony sizes, increased the rear yard setback from 15 feet to 20 feet, increased the open space by 161 square feet per dwelling unit, reduced the driveway to one-way, and relocated the bike room for ground floor access.
Resident Christine Varriale said she would be against the project no matter what because of the fact that Alpha Management will be managing the building when it’s complete.
“They are some of the worst landlords, if not the worst landlord, in Boston,” she said. “It’s nice that you tried, but honestly the only thing you can do at this point is to donate the land to a nonprofit affordable housing developer and then maybe, maybe I’ll feel okay about Alpha. For about a week. And then I’ll go back to hating them.”
At-Large City Councilor Julia Mejia representative Jacob deBlecourt said while he speaks for the councilor at times, he is also an Allston Brighton resident and felt that Alpha’s alleged actions against its residents warranted strict scrutiny from the neighborhood association.
“I would say the design itself is beautiful, and I would say I liked that you came back with an increased emphasis on affordability, but there are definitely serious and justifiable concerns about what life will be like in the building that will be managed by Alpha Management,” he said. “I think there have been a lot of very serious and justified comments made and actions taken against renters speaking out about their experiences, which were totally justified and should have been done without the threat of a cease-and-desist order or anything like that. If this is going to move forward and be approved and be managed by Alpha, we’re going to have to see some written confirmation that they’re not going to be going after their renters for speaking frankly about their experiences. It’s completely within their rights to do so and we just need to be supporting renters in a district that is majority renter.”
A resident going by Samir did not give his last name, but he said Alpha was outstanding and none of his maintenance requests, no matter what day of the week or time of day, were ever refused.
“The garbage is always picked up and the cleaning crew is always cleaning the inside and outside of the building,” he said. “The management is running this operation very properly and that pleases us. I cannot say enough, for many years I have no complaints, and if I had a complaint, I was encouraged to bring it over, whether by email, phone or text.”
Several tenants from Alpha also spoke in support of the company, though some of them came from Drago’s computer during the virtual meeting. However, according to a 2018 investigative story from WBZ, it was found at that time that Alpha had 95 housing court complaints filed against the company in 10 years. Those complaints included pictures of bedbugs, rodents and “squalid living conditions.” At the time, another 63 complaints were leveled against Alpha from residents to the city. At the time, Alpha’s attorney reported that “Alpha Management has taken immediate steps to address the alleged violations and has cleared each one in a timely manner.”
Alpha currently has 1.5 stars on Yelp.com with 34 reviews, with all but five of them negative.
In other news, City Realty updated the ACA Board on its construction timeline for Allston Square, which encompasses five buildings around the intersection at Harvard Avenue and Cambridge Street. City Realty representative Jacob Simmons said initial site work has started. He said phase 1 will start with 16 Highgate St. (basically off the corner of Highgate and Cambridge) and 4-8 Franklin St, the building across from the former site of Regina’s Pizza.
“We hope to finish within a year, hopefully,” he said. “Those are the first two to start, and then in the fall or winter of this year, hopefully before the grounds freezes, we’ll start 8-12 Wilton St. and 1 Highgate St. And then phase 2, 20 Braintree St., the Flatiron building, that one and 10 Highgate we'll start next spring."