Plans for redeveloping a key Fields Corner building at 1444-1446 Dorchester Ave. – the O’Hearn-Dorchester Music Hall building that is now home to the 02122 branch of the United States Postal Service – were featured for discussion at a virtual public meeting on Tues., June 24.
The owners of the property— Marc Resnick and Beantown Companies— bought the site for $5.6 million in 2023 and filed their plans with the city’s Planning Dept. in May.
The meeting included a presentation from Joe Hanley, an attorney for the owners who described the project as “principally a preservation and restoration project with the ability to add residential and improve the environment of the site around us.”
The O’Hearn building would be renovated and reconfigured, with the addition of a rear and fifth floor of approximately 28,000 square feet of gross floor area. A total of 47 residential units would be built-out in the project, which will also preserve and re-purpose the historic Field House at the rear of the property.
Located at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Adams and Leonard streets, the rehabilitated site would have open green space, newly-paved walkways, and a courtyard. Additionally, there would be an underground garage with 21 parking spots, a bike room, and storage space.
“What you’re going to see is an adaptive reuse of the existing main building and the integration with a four- to five-story addition toward the rear that also includes retaining and restoring the Field House,” said Hanley. “The plan allows us to improve the retail location for the post office and to provide 47 total units of residential housing, 18 percent of which will be affordable.”
While some community members expressed excitement about the project during the virtual meeting, others expressed concern about parking. One woman said that she supports the additional residential units, but not the 21 parking spots, because she does not want to see more cars in the neighborhood.
Hanley explained that the team is actually reducing the number of current parking spots and “trying to strike a balance.”
“At 47 [residential units,] that’s even less than .5 [parking spots per unit],” he said. “Not everyone is going to have a car. Other folks have said to us that’s not enough parking; we need to balance this. It’s considered not to be over-parked with respect to BPDA regulations.”
The city’s Small Project Review Application comment period ended on July 2, but the review process in not yet complete.
“We’re just in the approval process, hopefully by the end of the year [we’ll] get approvals, but the construction would not start right after that,” said architect David O’Sullivan. “Probably … in late spring of 2026, and probably about an 18-month time frame to build this all out.”
For more information, visit the project page at bostonplans.org.
