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EAB and staff outline City Realty’s revised Chestnut Hill proposal; board flags parking, phasing and affordable-housing concerns
Summary
City Realty presented a revised redevelopment plan for the Chestnut Hill Office Park; the Economic Development Advisory Board backed greater density to boost tax revenue but identified phasing, below-grade parking cost, access, retail orientation and affordable-housing issues that require further study.
Town economic development staff and the Economic Development Advisory Board (EAB) updated the Select Board on an evolving redevelopment proposal for the Chestnut Hill Office Park, following City Realty’s revised submission that reduces the tallest tower and alters the housing program.
Staff said the modified proposal reduces the tallest building (from the original proposal) by several floors, reprograms senior-continuing-care housing into 55-plus age-restricted units, adds roughly 30,000 square feet of commercial space and includes about 25 additional hotel rooms in the revised plan. Staff estimated the revised program would yield an annual net tax-growth estimate on the order of roughly $7.5 million (a staff-provided back-of-the-envelope figure tied to the developer’s program), down from a prior estimate of about $9 million under an earlier version.
Economic Development Advisory Board members said they broadly support a townwide view that the Chestnut Hill site presents the single best near-term redevelopment opportunity to strengthen Brookline’s commercial property tax base, but they flagged many open issues. The EAB asked the board to maintain an open mind on access (including a possible left-turn lane from Route 9 that would require MassDOT review), and urged the town to plan for enhanced pedestrian connections to the Chestnut Hill MBTA stop to support on-site retail.
EAB members and staff raised financial and logistical concerns about the developer’s proposal to construct a single, below-grade garage for the entire project up front — a potential $100 million-plus capital outlay that concentrates construction and market risk. The board asked staff and the developer to explore phased parking and phasing options to reduce up-front risk and to preserve zoning flexibility that would protect the town if market conditions change.
Members also pressed for clarity on the affordability approach. Staff said City Realty will present a menu of options to the Brookline Housing Authority and the town’s affordable-housing staff at an upcoming hearing; those options would likely include on-site affordable units and/or cash contributions to the Affordable Housing Trust. EAB’s development subcommittee will work with staff and the project’s financial analyses (including sensitivity testing) and return recommendations to EAB and the Select Board.
The board agreed to an ad hoc EAB subcommittee to evaluate feasibility, physical impacts and financial sensitivity for the proposal and asked staff to continue traffic and shadow studies, refine massing alternatives and consider retail facing and pedestrian access. The timeline is iterative: staff and the Community Advisory Group will continue consultations, with zoning amendments, development agreements and town-meeting actions to follow if the town pursues the overlay/zoning changes required for the developer’s program.
Select Board members emphasized they want a zoning framework that protects the public interest, ties certain project components (e.g., maximum height) to measurable conditions, and ensures the commercial component is retained during phasing rather than replaced by additional residential units if market pressures shift.
The EAB presentation and the board’s discussion leave the proposal in a working status: City Realty is expected to refine designs and present a subsequent version addressing the EAB and community feedback.
