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Chestnut Hill commercial-area study: staff delays zoning article, EDAB analysis finds redevelopment at current FAR not viable
Summary
Planning staff will not submit a zoning article for spring town meeting; the Economic Development Advisory Board (EDAB) subcommittee’s financial modeling found existing zoning (FAR 2.5) is unlikely to support the type of redevelopment proposed by City Realty, prompting further work on a draft rezoning framework for fall 2025.
Planning staff updated the Select Board on Feb. 11 about the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area Study and announced they will not submit a zoning warrant article for Spring 2025. Instead staff said they need additional time to refine recommendations and to finish a fiscal-impact model and a transportation scope; the team now targets a Fall 2025 zoning article for phase 1 and a subsequent town-meeting cycle for phase 2.
City Realty — the owner and redeveloper engaged in the study for the large office-park parcel — has submitted several iterations of a redevelopment concept. The most recent iteration in the packet limits height along Heath Street, drops a proposed new vehicular link between Boylston and Heath Streets and reduces commercial square footage from earlier versions, changes that staff and the EDAB ad hoc subcommittee said materially reduce projected commercial tax generation.
An EDAB subcommittee of local development professionals (George Cole, Mark Barrere, Ken Lewis and Sandy Silk) supplied pro forma modeling and concluded that under current market conditions and the existing FAR of 2.5, the Chestnut Hill Office Park site is unlikely to redevelop profitably. EDAB recommended that rezoning proposals assume higher density in order to attract mixed-use development that contains commercially productive ground-floor uses.
Staff said a principal next step is to finalize a fiscal-impact model (RKG consultant) and to draft a rezoning framework that balances commercial tax-generation goals with design, integration with the neighborhood and open-space concerns. Staff also plans a transportation study scoped to address circulation and pedestrian integration, and will take draft zoning language to the community advisory group in late March.
Select Board discussion noted concerns that focusing on a single parcel’s redevelopment could become “spot zoning” shaped by 1 developer’s proposal instead of a broader, town-led vision for the whole district. Staff and EDAB representatives said the current engagement arose because property owners made organizational decisions (consolidation, sale) that create a near-term redevelopment opportunity; they argued a phased, parcel-aware approach is the practical path to a wider vision.
Staff and EDAB said they will provide the Select Board with the finalized fiscal-impact analysis and the transportation scope as work continues toward draft rezoning, and that community outreach will continue.
