By Adam Swift
Lee Goodman of Watermark Development, the developer of the former Doyle’s Cafe, which closed in 2019, presented an overview of the project and an informational update regarding the final phase of the longstanding and ongoing development to the Stonybrook Neighborhood Association (SNA) at its monthly meeting last week.
SNA members raised questions about the location of possible off-site affordable housing units, as well as the cost of the market rate units which some members will be up to 30 percent higher than comparable market rate units in the neighborhood.
The scope of the project includes four distinct parts: a new restaurant at the former Doyle’s; an adjacent five-story building with 16 condo units and ground-floor retail space in the former Doyle’s parking lot (those two projects encompass 3478-3484 Washington St. and is known now as 1 Gartland); a new, four-story residential building containing seven condo units at 60 Williams Street (which essentially is behind the former Doyle’s); and a new six-condo building (which formerly had been a one-family home) across the street at 69 Williams St. The Williams Street portions of the project have been completed and are occupied.
To kick off the SNA meeting, Goodman reviewed the parking situation at One Gartland.
“The parking for One Gartland is in the building for the residents … there are car stackers that move around,” said Goodman. “So 1 Gartland and 60 Williams, the green building, both have parking in that garage, behind garage doors,” said Goodman. “The parking that’s currently being used at grade at 60 Williams is actually public parking for the restaurant for whoever attends, so there is scattered public parking between the three sites, about 25 spaces.”
Goodman said there is dedicated parking, one per unit, for each condominium.
“There’s 29 units across the three buildings, 29 parking spaces,” he said.
There is stacked parking for 1 Gartland and 60 Williams, with parking at 69 Williams having parking at grade under the building for the residents.
“There’s parking along the strip on Meehan Street, which has always been Doyle’s parking, and that’s being restored and reused for the same purpose (for commercial spaces),” Goodman said.
Goodman was also asked about the funding and the AHA (Affordable Homes Act) agreement for the project.
“It was updated and amended, so there is still an AHA,” said Goodman.
SNA steering committee member David Brewster said he believed the vote itself was to terminate the agreement and give the head of the BPDA the ability to rewrite a new agreement.
“Technically, you are correct, but the … decision of how it is going to be rewritten is made before they agreed to vote on it,” said Goodman. He said there was already an agreement to transfer two of the AHA units offsite before it was taken to the board.
“They won’t take anything to the board without the powers to be agreeing to it, vetting it, etc.,” said Goodman.
“There is a new agreement in place?” Brewster asked.
“They are redrafting it,” Goodman said.
Brewster said that would imply to him that there was a change in financing for the project since it was before the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council last October.
“It’s taken so much longer so there’s been a significant increase in the amount of interest,” said Goodman. “When you lay out a project, leaving aside the construction cost increases for a second – which are real – but that’s not the main driver of the problem. If you think you are going to build something in 24 months and you expect, just hypothetically, that it is going to be 10 grand a month for 24 months, that is $2.4 million … but it ends up taking five years, so it is 60 months instead of 24, you are still paying interest along the way.”
The majority of the issues with the extended time to complete the project were with the city, Goodman and said, and that was why he said the city was receptive to a change in the requested AHA agreement.
“Without going into the gory details, I think most people at the BPDA would say, yes, we (messed) this up really bad and it’s on us, and this is why we are willing to help you and change this AHA,” said Goodman. “It happened at a time when mayors were changing, there was a lot of turnover in agencies … and it just kind of got lost in the transition. What happened was something that was supposed to be approved in three or four months took almost 20 months; and that was the biggest driver of the delays and that was why they were so receptive to the request.”
Goodman said Needham Bank agreed to extend more money to cover the interest for the project, and they wanted more equity or collateral posted to cover that extension.
“The way you post more collateral is that you sell more units at market rate vs. affordable, so the main issue was they wanted to see the pie grow, and you can’t grow the pie by saying we are going to sell these for more, don’t worry,” said Goodman. “I can’t guarantee that, it’s unlikely … so the only way you can increase that is by having two units offsite and having additional collateral through the additional sales. That allowed them to say they would extend an additional $1.7 million of interest line item.”
Brewster noted that the condos that have currently sold in the project under the AHA agreement have come in at around $300,000, while the units not under the AHA have sold for about $1.3 million. He said he understood the concept of building more housing so there is more on the market to eventually lead to more affordability, but added that he didn’t see why the market rate units had to be priced so high.
Rossmore Road resident Jonathan McCurdy said he was concerned about where and when the affordable units would be built, and whether they would be in Jamaica Plain or another neighborhood in the city.
“The neighborhood tried very, very hard to get these units in the building at the site, so again, I am disappointed, I understand things happen, and I appreciate folks showing up in person,” he said.