A Waltham company plans to transform a landmark property at the crossroads of Adams Street and Dot Ave in Fields Corner, retaining space for the existing US Post Office for 02122 and adding a mix of new construction.
Beantown Companies, which purchased the O’Hearn/Dorchester Music Hall property at 1444-1446 Dorchester Ave. two years ago, filed an Article 80 Small Project Review application with the city’s Planning Department on Tuesday that offers new details on major changes to the underutilized property, including 47 units of housing, nine of them affordable.
A fifth floor with living area and a roof deck would be added to the existing building facing Dorchester Avenue, with a new five-story building rising at the rear along Leonard Street with additional housing units and a below-grade, 18-car garage. A lobby between the two buildings would conjoin them into one complex.
The circa 1700s Field House behind the building would be renovated carefully to create two new units of housing – all of it surrounded by new green space, gardens, and trees on what is now an asphalt parking lot.
Noteworthy is the restoration of the historic, arched windows along Leonard Street that were a trademark element of the Music Hall, but have long been covered by brick.
“The scale, design and programming of the Proposed Project has been carefully shaped and designed to be complementary to, and consistent with, the ongoing Fields Corner Squares and Streets Planning Initiative,” reads the application.
A public comment period is now open through July 2, according to the Planning Dept., which is expected to host a public meeting on the proposal later in June.
