Community Corner

New Apartment Building Proposed on Polk Street

A Charlestown resident is looking to replace an aging home and vacant lot near the neighborhood's housing projects with 31 rental units.

[UPDATED Monday, June 10, 2:30 p.m.]

A local resident is hoping to bring a fresh look to the neighborhood around some of Charlestown’s housing projects by constructing a new 31-unit apartment building on Polk Street.

Doug MacDonald presented his idea before the Charlestown Neighborhood Council at their last meeting before summer break on Tuesday, June 4. The proposed building at 30 Polk St., near Charlestown High School and Boston Housing Authority's Charlestown Apartments, would replace a ranch house currently located there as well as a vacant lot next to it, both of which MacDonald has agreed to purchase, he said.

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The Charlestown resident told the CNC he grew up in the projects and coaches youth sports in the community. He said the property had recently caught his eye and he thought the land offered an opportunity to “change that neighborhood, to sort of give it a different feel.”

MacDonald is working with Jack French of Neshamkin French Architects on the development, which features 31 rental units in a building over three floors designed to fit in with Charlestown’s historical architecture, with brick and flower boxes on the first floor and wood siding on the upper floors. There would be four one-bedroom units, five one-bedroom plus den units and 22 two-bedroom units.

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The building would also feature one story of parking with 29 spaces, along with one Zipcar space and a charging station for an electrical vehicle, MacDonald said. There would also be storage space for bicycles.

Calling the development “transit-oriented,” MacDonald said he and French felt that 29 “is an appropriate number of parking spaces for this site.”

French said the project would likely need a few variances to meet height, density and open space requirements.

MacDonald said he expects the project to go before the Zoning Board of Appeal in July. He was hoping the Charlestown Neighborhood Council could review and present an opinion on the project by that time.

However, as CNC chairman Tom Cunha pointed out, the council does not meet in July or August.

No plan for reconciling that issue was presented at the June 4 meeting.

The CNC Development Committee has scheduled a community meeting on the project for Monday, June 24 at 7 p.m. at the 100 Ferrin Street Senior Center Community Room.


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