The Zoning Board of Appeal on Tuesday approved plans for a six-story, 33-unit apartment building at 555-563 Talbot Ave.
The plans, by building owner Mark Little, include ground-floor restaurant space. Little’s attorney, George Morancy said, however, that the Mix, which occupies the one-story building now on the site, where the Ashmont Grill used to be, will not be returning.
The new building would have 23 one-bedroom apartments, 8 two-bedroom units and 2 three-bedroom units, Morancy told the board. Six of the apartments will be rented as affordable, to people making no more than 60% of the Boston area median income.
The building, located just across Peabody Square from the Ashmont T station, served by the Red and Mattapan lines and ten bus lines, would have no parking. It would have indoor storage space for 46 bicycles.
The proposal, approved by the Boston Planning Board last November, needed variances because, among other reasons, the lot’s zoning prohibits restaurants and because the building’s proposed height, size, open space, parking did not comply with its requirements.
Morancy said there are numerous similar buildings along Dorchester Avenue near the T stop now and that the area’s 2002 zoning simply hasn’t been updated to reflect changes in the city’s now longstanding goal of increased density near transit “nodes” like Ashmont. Development to try to comply with that goal would prove impossible on the lot because of its narrow width and because of a “steep grade” right behind it. Also, he noted, there’s long been a restaurant on the site.
Elle Marrone, executive director of Greater Ashmont Main Street, praised the project, saying it would bring increased foot traffic to a stretch of Dorchester Avenue that, despite its location across from the T street, now has relatively little.
Nobody spoke against the proposal.
