A new six-story building is expected to house 70 studio units and nearly 2,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space at 1320 Dorchester Avenue, under a Fields Corner proposal approved last Thursday (Feb. 16) by the board of the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

The size of the units will range from 377 to 450 square feet. Eleven units will be set aside for affordable housing, and the project will have six on-site parking spaces. The plan, which originally sought 80 units, calls for a ground floor office and lounge space, as well as a fitness center, and a roof deck.

The $20 million development involves the demolition of the two-story, mixed-use building that’s currently there and has served as home to the “All American Water” company.

Construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2024 and create 50 construction jobs.

Robert F. Raymond of 1334 Dot LLC is the developer, with George Morancy as the legal counsel, and Choo & Co. as the architect.
The developer plans to contribute $50,000 to the nonprofit city organization called Fund for Parks that sits within the Parks and Recreation Department. The funds will be earmarked for maintaining green space at Ronan Park.

The developer is also expected to work on providing curbside space on Dorchester Avenue for a BlueBike station with 15 spaces, to the tune of $49,000, as well as improving the sidewalk dimensions at Dorchester Avenue and Ellsworth Street.

The project was proposed under the city’s compact living policy pilot, first adopted by the BPDA’s board in October 2018. The pilot offers design guidelines, for example, to help shrink a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom unit down to 600 square feet. Under the policy, studios have a maximum of 450 square feet.

Comment period nearing end for residences by Trotter school

Plans for 23 residences on vacant parcels on Hollander and Holworthy streets by the Trotter Elementary School are facing the end of the comment period on March16.

The proposal from Windale Developers, led by Arnold Johnson, includes 16 affordable housing units and 7 market-rate units, according to a filing submitted last year to the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

The BPDA’s board last year voted to designate Windale, a certified minority-owned business, to develop 12 vacant and weed-strewn parcels owned by the city agency.

“As Dorchester apartment prices continue to rise, there is a strong need to keep longtime residents and new families from being priced out,” the developer said in its filing, adding that the project will “revitalize abandoned land (and) provide new infrastructure and landscaping.”

The project will also create 46 on-site parking spaces for residents of the new buildings. On the west side of the property, an exterior courtyard will function as green space.

The area spans 35,300 square feet inside the Washington Park urban renewal area and close to Roxbury’s Nubian Square, according to the 2022 filing.

The proposal is undergoing the BPDA’s “Article 80” review process for small projects, and needs approvals from the Boston Water and Sewer Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeal.