Saying “It’s time to get this show on the road,” the owner of the former Muzi property at 557 Highland Ave. previewed the broad outlines of a mixed-use proposal that could produce as many 500 units of senior-directed housing at the nearly 10-acre site.
Robert Schlager, president of The Bulfinch Companies, which purchased the site for $57.2 million in late 2021, told the Planning Board at its April 7 meeting the firm no longer plans to pursue the life science lab/office complex for which it received a hard-fought special permit in late 2022.
Instead, Bulfinch intends to pursue a housing-heavy mixed-use development that will require a revised zoning regimen to accommodate the increase in housing and other programmatic changes.
In an April 2 letter to the Planning Board, Schlager wrote the “current conceptual plan overview” calls for:
• Up to 480 residential units, at least half of which may be “age restricted”
• Possibly up to 100,000 square feet of medical office space
• 10,000 square feet of retail space.
In a June 2025 appearance before the Planning Board, Bulfinch indicated a hotel may be included, but Schlager said that feature is no longer under consideration.
Schlager, presenting remotely, proposed an aggressive timeline with the goal of having a zoning article before Town Meeting in the fall.
Schlager said Bulfinch has been meeting with town officials as well as residents and other businesses in the area to obtain feedback to inform their planning.
“We believe that a multifamily concept to include senior living over age 55 that was emphatically stated and emphasized would prove to be most likely the highest and best use,” he told the board.
“We thought that we would explore the feasibility of incorporating a multifamily scenario. And that’s why we’re here this evening.”
Schlager said the residential units would average around 1,200 square feet and be a mixture of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. He said the yield could be as high as 500 units, 12.5% of which would be affordable as required by zoning bylaw.
The Planning Board appeared unanimously supportive of the plan, but offered notes of caution about the ambitious timeline. There were differing perspectives on the viability of retail but little to no pushback on the scale of the housing.
“I appreciate all the housing,” said member Natasha Espada. “We know we have a housing shortage, and I think it gives us a lot of opportunities.”
Schlager indicated he will be seeking zoning with flexibility to accommodate different variations of the eventual final “mix” in the mixed-use scheme. While the proposal says between 75,000-100,000 square feet of medical office is possible, the commercial real estate market may dictate otherwise.
“What if the medical office doesn’t pan out?” asked member Eric Greenberg. “Would you backfill with housing?”
“We want to be responsive to market demand and if the market makes it viable to have medical offices and to adjust the number of (housing) units, we would certainly obviously do that,” Schlager said.
More than one member expressed interest in a more robust retail component beyond the 10,000-square-foot allotment of space.
“It might be a good opportunity for some kind of retail component to serve the broader community in the Heights area rather than just necessarily be like a coffee shop to service only the residential site,” said Greenberg, an attorney whose practice focuses on retail.
“We don’t believe that particular location is ‘destination oriented’ where someone from the community would go there,” said Schlager. “They’re more likely to go to Great Plain Avenue or to Needham Center as opposed to going to this side of town for a service.”
“But if we can make retail work there, more than happy to build it.”
Member Adam Block inquired about parking and how it would be allocated. Schlager said the plan is to provide 1,000 parking spaces with surface parking, parking structures and some parking underneath the individual buildings. There will be no central, multi-level garage as was included in the prior life science/office plan.
“I think it’s a project that would really be embraced from the town’s perspective and the neighborhood, given that it’s over 55,” Schlager said. “So there’s no burden on the school system. There’s really no town burden. There’s less vehicular traffic (than would have been the case with the life-science complex).”
The senior-directed aspect could take many forms, he said.
“We’d have to evaluate whether it’s going to be a senior living facility or facilities, independent living, CCRC (continuing care retirement community), multifamily, all of the above, some of the above, none of the above.”
NEXT STEPS
“Our goal is to go for a Special Town Meeting in October of this year,” said Schlager. “And the reason for that is it’s been almost five years now. We would like to see the site developed. I’m sure the community would like to see this site developed. I think a proposed residential multifamily use with some retail is relatively benign to the area. It would have attractive landscaping, some amenities and I think it’s time to get the show on the road.”
Block noted that getting on the warrant would require zoning to be drafted by July. He was sensitive to public aversion to addressing such an important issue during summer months when many residents are away. “You want to be back to us, I think, in late May with a traffic impact analysis, some proposed zoning and a fiscal impact analysis in order to have enough time in the system (for October),” he said.
Schlager said a traffic impact study is in process. He expects his legal representative, Needham resident Tim Sullivan of Goulston Storrs, will complete a draft of the zoning recommendation within 30 days.
Further down the line is a planned fiscal-impact study that would elaborate on items such as expected tax revenue and net town income after deductions for costs the project will impose on the town.
“I think it has a lot of opportunities for you to make something really great for that part of town,” said board chair Artie Crocker.
“We’ll begin to respond more publicly to the community groups and set up some community discussion opportunities over the next four weeks or so,” said Schlager.
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