FOREST HILLS—An MBTA parcel across the street from Forest Hills Station has received purchase offers from two developers, according to MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo.
Private developers Urbanica and KSS Investments, LLC have both filed bids with the MBTA real estate staff to buy “Parcel U.” The MBTA will decide which offer, if any, to accept by the end of the month.
Parcel U, encompassing about 2.8 acres, is one of a handful of parcels that the T has been trying to sell, with limited success, since 2007. It is bounded by Hyde Park Avenue on the west and Ukraine Way on the north. It extends just south of Walk Hill Street.
The Forest Hills Improvement Initiative (FHII) Use and Design Guidelines, completed in 2008, dictate that Parcel U should house locally-supportive businesses such as hardware stores, bookstores or dry cleaners.
They also state that 4,000 square feet should be set aside for community use, such as a day care facility. They further ask for 150 housing units, half of which should be affordable; 130 residential parking spaces; and for 30,000 square feet, or 24 percent of the parcel’s area, to be left as open space.
Two different MBTA lots, located on Washington Street south of Ukraine Way and subject to the same FHII guidelines, were sold in 2009 and are being developed under the name Arboretum Place.