Aspinwall condo planners seeking a fifth floor

A rendering shows the revised, larger plan for a condo building at 3 Aspinwall Rd. in Codman Square.
Image courtesy McDougal Architects, Inc.

The development team behind a 4-story, 34-unit condo building on Aspinwall Road in Codman Square that received the city’s permission to proceed back in 2019 has filed an amended plan that adds 11 additional units and a fifth floor.

An attorney representing the project’s proponent, Solmon Chowdury of Shanti Acquisition, filed a “Notice of Project Change” with the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) on Sept. 15. In a letter explaining the change, Attorney Michael P. Ross explained that the previously approved project was not built because Chowdury was “unable to close the necessary funding to advance the project,” blaming “considerable instability in the market and exceedingly high construction pricing.”

By adding 8,550 square feet to the building’s size and capacity, Chowdury will be “able to proceed with construction,” Ross wrote. If approved, the bigger footprint would allow for two additional “affordable units,” bringing the total on site to 6 out of the 44 now proposed. The mix of units will include 4 studios, 22 one-bedroom units, and 19 two-bedroom units.

The building would rise from 3 Aspinwall, the site of the former Nelson Manor nursing home, which has sat vacant since 1995. The revised plan includes 29 vehicle parking spaces in a garage, which will also provide 60 spots for bicycles.

When it won initial approval in August 2019, the BPDA board hailed it as a $10 million investment to Dorchester, creating 40 construction jobs, and providing $40,000 in community benefits between transportation and infrastructure improvements to nearby Codman Square Park.

The BPDA will consider comments from the public about the proposed changes through Nov. 3. For more info, go to bostonplans.org or contact the project manager Quinn Valcich at quinn.w.valcich@boston.gov. A public meeting on the new plan will be scheduled in the coming weeks.


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