development

The Boston Redevelopment Authority yesterday approved the 32-story Nashua Street Residences, which will bring 503 housing units and a two-story mall to the area behind the Boston Garden and the Tip O'Neill building.

Although most of the residential units will be aimed at the family-less, some 32 units will have three bedrooms.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette interviews the chairman of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, which claims it has standing to sue over a proposed South Huntington Avenue development because it is a municipal board, but which says it doesn't have to worry about the city dissolving it because it is not "a branch" of municipal government. Got that?

Not that, in the greater scheme of things, that's as earth-shattering as, say, secretly buying up large swaths of the neighborhood right under the mayor's nose or anything, but in ten years of proposing plans and canceling them, the U has never once said anything about moving the engineering school across the river and now, boom, they'll be in 02134 instead of 02138 within five years.

Both Allston residents and engineering types are shocked, although for different reasons.

Between the substation and the office building where the gas station used to be.

Roslindale Village Main Street and Historic Boston showed off their latest plans for the old trolley substation the other night. More than 300 people attended and heard plans to turn the substation into a restaurant and to tear down the funeral home next door and build 40 housing units there and atop part of the funeral home's parking lot on Cummins Highway.

Possible renderings and site plans (subject to BRA review) | Basic project background

View from far side of Adams Park. Hey, when did they decide to take the fences out?

City and state officials formally broke ground today on a luxury-housing project along Marginal Street and Pier One.

The first of seven buildings in the $46-million Portside at Pier One project is a five-story apartment building with 176 units - 26 designated as "affordable" - along with ground-floor retail space. It's due to open next spring. Ultimately, the project will include a total of 550 apartments.

Construction began in 2006, then stalled along with the economy.

The Globe reports on the 50ish-story tower that will rise on part of the Christian Science Center property - along with a 20-story building. Construction could start by year's end.

The Globe reports the owners of the Boston Garden are finally looking to make good on plans - approved in the 1980s - to put something in front of the arena. Specifically, they're considering two 400-foot towers featuring, naturally, lots of luxury apartments, along with a Target and a Stop & Shop.

Well, not them, of course, but all those other developers. The Boston Business Journal explores the angst among developers about the 6,000 or so luxury apartments that could be built in Boston over the next couple of years.

Our own Ron Newman points us to some city bid documents for the municipal lot at Day and Herbert streets. The city is seeking at least $1 million for the property.

That would, of course, be the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council. The Jamaica Plain Gazette reminds us that the group, which claims to be a municipal board so that it can sue over a South Huntington Avenue development it doesn't like, last year claimed it was not a municipal board so that it could hold private meetings without having to comply with the state Open Meeting Law.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."

The Crimson reports on a recent meeting of a Harvard/Allston community task force. It did not go well.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council yesterday sued the city over the Zoning Board of Appeals' approval of a luxury housing project at the Home for Little Wanderers site on South Huntington Avenue, the Jamaica Plain Gazette reports.

Two non-profits that have been trying to turn the hulking brick husk of an old trolley substation in Roslindale Square into something useable say they now want to buy the funeral home next door for housing.

In an e-mail update this morning, Steve Gag and Stephanie Cave of Roslindale Village Main Street say the FJ Higgins Funeral Home on Washington Street is now up for sale - and that the Higgins family has agreed to give the group and Historic Boston first dibs on the property as the family prepares to move the funeral home to a new location.

Gag and Cave say they don't want to let the property fall into the hands of a developer who would use it for something un-Roslindale-Square-like - such as a fast-food drive-thru:

The Globe reports on the sudden change of events at Fenway Center, the proposed complex by the turnpike and commuter-rail line.

Both are examples of sawtooth design, which, at least in the case of Millennium Place, allows for more profit-maximizing "corner" units. Utile explains.

The Globe surveys the coming explosion of residential units downtown.

The Herald reports on a BRA filing by the developer of the planned Nashua Street Residences.

The Boston Business Journal has the latest on the DeNormandie Wharf project.

The Daily Free Press reports Children's Hospital wants to replace the parking lot at 819 Beacon St., just outside Kenmore Square, with 650,000 square feet of clinical, office and retail space. And a 526-car garage.

John Ford writes the developer is sending out mixed signals about the skyline-changing project.

NorthEndWaterfront.com reports the state has chosen two finalists for Parcel 9 - next to Haymarket, one focused on out-of-towners, the other on apartments, both with restaurants and food-market space.

The Globe reports on plans for the old John Hancock hotel and conference center.

With one major residential project already in the works, the BRA has started work on a South Huntington Avenue Corridor Study. The first part, figuring out what the study will cover, should be out within a few weeks, the BRA says:

The objective is to define the collective vision and physical character of this corridor for the foreseeable future that will clarify the city’s expectations for future development. The Study’s general boundaries will extend along South Huntington Avenue from its intersection with Perkins Street to the south and Route 9/Huntington Avenue to the north. The Study will explore issues that include height, density, housing mix and affordability, open space, historic preservation, parking, and transportation.

The Herald reports City Councilor Mike Ross will return $2,000 in donations from executives of the company that wants to build a $195-million luxury housing project on South Huntington Avenue.

The Herald started nosing around yesterday after organizers of a campaign against the project released details of campaign contributions from developers and their lawyers to Mayor Menino, Ross, state Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and City Councilors Matt O'Malley, Felix Arroyo and John Connolly from people associated with either that project or another luxury-housing plan to replace the old Home for Little Wanderers on South Huntington.

The Herald reports the board approved the new luxury project on South Huntington Avenue after letting City Councilor Mike Ross (D-Not Jamaica Plain) speak, but not any of the residents there. Next step: A zoning board hearing on Nov. 13. The Herald notes a BRA member implored the developer to dig up somebody who lives in JP to publicly support the project at the zoning hearing, because that board might not be as accommodating as the BRA.