BRA Approves Navy Yard Apartment Building

The Boston Redevelopment Authority last week unanimously approved plans to construct a new four-story apartment building in the Charlestown Navy Yard, on a site known as Parcel 39a.

The project, which is being developed by Kavanagh Advisory Group LLC and known as "Starboard Place," features 54 rental units—18 studio apartments and 36 one-bedroom apartments—but no on-site parking. Instead, the developer intends to designate 32 spaces in nearby Building 199 for Starboard Place residents as well as 11 spaces in the Flagship Wharf garage at 197 Eighth St.

Residents and Charlestown Neighborhood Council representatives expressed concerns about the lack of on-site parking at a public meeting held Jan. 24 at Constitution Inn, which is located near the empty lot at First Avenue and Ninth Street where Starboard Place will be built.

At that meeting, the CNC Development Committee voted 5-1 to support the project, with certain conditions, one of which was that the developer provide a total of 54 parking spaces—one for each rental unit, including the 11 affordable units.

But at the BRA meeting on Thursday, Feb. 14, parking was not really addressed, and the developer did not discuss plans to expand its offering to include the affordable units. Instead, talk focused on the fact that the lot had been vacant since the 1970s and that the project would add needed housing stock in the area.

With BRA approval, Kavanagh Advisory Group LLC intends to break ground as early as June, a representative said Thursday.