by Steve Adams / via Banker & Tradesman
Responding to requests from local elected officials, developers are adding 85 housing units to a proposed redevelopment of WBZ-TV’s Allston studios.
The changes expand the proposed 1170-1190 Soldiers Field Road development to 795,000 square feet. Developers agreed to set aside 20 percent of the housing units as income-restricted for households earning 40 to 100 percent of the area median income.
National Development and Mount Vernon Co. last summer proposed three office-lab buildings to replace the former TV studios and surface parking. Boston City Councilors Liz Breadon, Julia Mejia and state Reps. Kevin Honan and Michael Moran submitted a comment letter in October asking developers to include housing in the project.
The 6-story, 95,000-square-foot residential building would be constructed on the south end of the development site near the city-owned Smith Field and Playground and include 42 parking spaces, 10 studios, 56 one-bedroom units, 14 two-bedroom units and five three-bedroom units, developers said in a filing with the Boston Planning and Development Agency.
No changes are proposed for the rest of the project, including office-lab buildings ranging up to eight stories and 700 below-grade parking spaces.
WBZ-TV will move to a new 63,000-square-foot studio at 1170-1200 Soldiers Field Road, making its longtime property available for redevelopment.