S. Huntington project approved by City

The City Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) voted this morning to approve the variances requested by the developers of the luxury apartment project at 161 S. Huntington Ave. in the midst of great community opposition.

The project still needs approval from the city’s Parks Commission, tentatively scheduled for next week, Larry DiCara, the attorney for the project and a JP resident told the Gazette.

The seven-member vote to allow the Boston Residential Group to create 196 units consisting of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units in a four- to five-story building on the current site of the Home for Little Wanderers was unanimous. The developers said that they increased the number of affordable units to 33 from the 30 previously  announced to the community.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us to provide much needed rental housing in Boston and help The Home for Little Wanderers divest of the property and significantly add to their capital campaign,” Curtis Kemeny, president and CEO of Boston Residential Group, said in a press release.

“What can I say? The city doesn’t care about opposition from the neighborhood,” JP resident and neighborhood council member Red Burrows told the Gazette following the hearing at City Hall. “[But] I am pleased they added more affordable housing.”

“I am shocked,” JP resident and neighborhood council member Martha Rodriguez said. “It makes me feel that as a community, we’re insignificant. We’re not powerful enough.”

For more, see the Aug. 23 issue of the Gazette.

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