Developer revives decade-old plan for apartments on vacant lot on H Street in South Boston

A Newton developer says he's finally ready to break ground on a three-story, 127-unit apartment building at H and East 1st streets in South Boston, more than 10 years after what was then the BRA approved the project.

In a filing this week with what is now the BPDA, Peter Zagorianakos is asking for permission to break ground on the 1.5-acre site without requiring a new series of public meetings and hearings for the project, which would also include 157 parking spaces in an underground garage and ground-floor retail space.

Zagorianakos is asking to change the formal BPDA approval to let him voluntarily set aside 16 units as "workforce" units for people earning between 100% and 120% of the Boston area median income. Unlike today, in 2012, the city did not require any units be set aside as "affordable," let alone for "workforce" housing for people making just over the amounts that would qualify as "affordable."

The filing does not say what took him so long, but does say he is now ready to begin construction as soon as the BPDA approves his "notice of project change," thanks to financing he obtained before the recent rise in interest rates:

In support of the City's demand for housing creation in a challenging economic climate, the Proponent notes that construction financing is fully in place for the Approved Project, with funding on account at favorable rates (prior to current market restraints). Demolition, excavation and urban fill removal has also been completed, resulting in a "shovel ready" site for an approved development, now improved with on-site affordability as part of this [notice of project change].

In March, 2021, - about a year before the Federal Reserve Bank started raising interest rates - he obtained a $47-million loan from East Boston Savings Bank, according to Suffolk County Registry of Deeds records.

2 H St. filings.