FOREST HILLS—Bicon Dental Implants and neighbors continue to meet over the company’s controversial plan to demolish a 19th century house at 21 Yale Terrace and replace it with a building and a parking garage.
Bicon is located at 501 Arborway. The company has agreed not to demolish the house at 21 Yale Terrace, which abuts its property, until May 19 while discussions continue with the neighbors.
Bicon did not respond to a request for comment.
Gail Sullivan, a neighbor and a member of the Yale Terrace Neighborhood Association, said in an email to the Gazette that the two parties recently met and Bicon brought drawings that showed a development with a 42-car garage, office space and 4 housing units.
“It is four stories plus a basement, rather enormous for our neighborhood,” said Sullivan. “Two stories of garage, with access to the lower level at Morton Street, and access to the upper level on Yale Terrace facing senior housing. The offices and housing are two stories atop the garage.”
Sullivan said there are still unanswered questions about why there is going to be residential housing at the development, the number of parking spaces, and whether the project will need any zoning variances.
“We have no illusions about preventing the demolition, but are very concerned to make sure this oversized commercial project doesn’t burden Yale Terrace,” she said.
Sullivan said the next steps are to meet again with Bicon on May 11 and continue to investigate the issue of zoning variances and what City review will be needed for the project.
Bicon has a history of controversial expansions and operations that have drawn neighborhood complaints, City citations and City Council hearings.
Berta Berriz, the former owner of 21 Yale Terrace, says that she was “deceived” by a buyer who claimed to be a family-minded local grandmother into selling the historic house to the neighboring Bicon Dental Implants. Berriz did not want to sell the house to Bicon.