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Developer hopes to convert old Jamaica Plain monastery into 20 apartments - and add a new building with 90 condos
By adamg on Fri, 05/19/2023 - 11:24pm
Holland Properties said today it will soon file plans to convert the Poor Clare Nuns monastery next to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain into apartments and community uses - and to construct a new condo building behind the monastery.
Holland last year proposed tearing down the 920 Centre St. monastery to make way for 26 townhouses, but withdrew the proposal in the face of fierce community opposition.
Holland's letter of intent with the BPDA does not provide specifics on the proposed 90-unit condo building, except that it will be built of "mass timber," which is a type of wood product that can allow for construction of buildings taller than the five or six stories now common in new construction in Boston.
Holland said that in addition to apartments, it would outfit the former monastery with 20,000 square feet of other uses, including a day care, a gym, community rooms and an event space.
Holland said it will file for a planned development area for the 2.9-acre site, which would let it and the BPDA essentially throw out the site's existing zoning and negotiate on just what could go on the land. Because of its location on a parkway, next to the arboretum, the land has special conservation requirements.
The Franciscan Monastery of Saint Clare still owns the parcel. Last week, Suffolk County Registry of Deeds records show, the order took out a $6 million mortgage on it to finance their purchase of a three-building, 74-acre parcel in Westwood.
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Comments
quelle domage !
quelle domage !
Impressive
There’s about 100 feet behind the monastery, not sure how you squeeze a 90 unit condo building in there, but cool, go for it!
glad to see better use of the land...
..but holy shit is that ever a bad location. Bad spot for pedestrians, bad spot for additional car traffic. The land going back to the arboretum would have been the best outcome here.
‘Back’ to the Arboretum?
Was the land ever part of the Arb? I don’t know about that, but I agree 100% about the traffic. The added people, bikes, cars from 90+ apartments emptying out directly into the epicenter of the current DCR mess will not be pleasant.
Bad road design, but fixable - build housing!
The experience for everyone around this area is miserable, but it's fixable -- not by one part of government alone, but nevertheless possible. The errors of this governor & past in correcting how DCR manages parkways, exacerbated by the failures of public transit agencies pushing more cars onto the road shouldn't stop the expansion of our most badly needed asset: housing.
hmmmm
Glad to see housing go in there, even if 90 units seems like wishful thinking. Also glad that they're building in daycare-- maybe some day the city will allow developers to offer daycare in exchange for reduced parking requirements. That said, that's not a good place to steamroll over environmental regs.
Poor??
Seems these Nuns are far from poor unless the definition of poor in Boston is now the ability to make a $50,000 payment per month for their new property.
That's my kind of poor!
This is the best possible
This is the best possible outcome