Boston – Boston’s Planning Department recently recommended approval of a new office-to-residential conversion project representing approximately 219,200sf to the BPDA board. The approved project is the largest office-to-residential conversion project to be approved by the board.
Located in the heart of Downtown Crossing, the project at 280-300 Washington Street will convert vacant office space into 255 new homes, 52 of which will be income-restricted, and will retain existing retail space on the ground floor. Due to updated zoning regulations downtown, the project will not require zoning relief, allowing these new homes to be completed more quickly. This project is one of 24 applicants to Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office-to-Residential Conversion Program, which is on track to convert 29 buildings and 1.5 million sq. ft. of empty office space into more than 1,700 new homes downtown.
Mayor Wu and Chief of Planning Kairos Shen also marked Dr. Ted Landsmark’s retirement from the BPDA board and celebrated his tenure. Landsmark joined the board in September 2014 and is currently the longest serving board member. “Ted Landsmark’s influence can be seen not only in the city’s growth and its skyline, but in the generations of planners, architects, and advocates he has mentored,” said Wu. “We are grateful to Dr. Landsmark for his years of public service and for pushing Boston to live up to its promise of being a home for everyone.”
—
In addition to the project at 280-300 Washington Street, the board also approved an update to a previously approved project at 69 A Street in South Boston to convert the approved office space into 24 units of housing.
