A local property developer is laying the groundwork for a citizen’s petition at May Town Meeting that would affect zoning changes needed to facilitate the development of the long dormant former Hillcrest Gardens site at 888 Great Plain Ave., across from Greene’s Field.
Despite the fact that the property hosted a plant nursery business for more than 40 years and is surrounded by businesses and religious institutions — the Baptist and Christian Science churches — the lot is zoned for single-family housing.
Jay Derenzo, principal of J. Derenzo Properties and a third-generation Needham builder, is seeking zoning changes that would allow him to build a mixed-use development with three ground-floor retail spaces and 26 residential units in the three stories above.
Derenzo and his attorney, George Giunta Jr., presented their plans at the Jan. 6 meeting of the Planning Board, the town entity that processes zoning changes but would be bypassed by the direct petition effort. Earlier iterations of plans for the site were discussed with the Planning Board in 2022 and 2023 but did not receive approval.
The possibility of the zoning at the parcel being altered by the town’s plans for zoning under the MBTA Communities Act contributed to a pause in the planning in 2024.
In late 2025, the developer informed the planning department it was considering taking the citizens petition route instead of the standard Planning Board approval process.
“Ideally, we would like to have the board sponsor this sort of change,” Giunta said at the Planning Board meeting. “However, as we worked through numerous hearings and we had multiple discussions, it became apparent that there were different ideas.”
“We realized that, probably the best chance of getting some traction and moving this forward was going to be to do it as a citizens petition.”
How zoning would change
The parcel is located in what the Planning Board has called a “transition” area or buffer between the downtown commercial district and residential neighborhoods. In advocating for the changes, Giunta noted in a Dec. 30, 2025, letter to the town that the parcel’s single-family zoning has long been incongruous.
“The premises is neither well-suited nor well-situated for single-family residential use,” he wrote. “Considering the surrounding uses and properties, it is odd that this parcel is zoned single-family, a use which does not seem appropriate for this location.”
Giunta is proposing that the property’s zoning be changed from Single-Residence B, which does not allow multi-family or mixed-use. He is asking to “extend both the Center Business Zoning District and the Needham Center Overlay District to include the Premises.”
The petition also includes a request to lift language from the town’s Neighborhood Zoning District and apply it to the Needham Center Overlay District. This would permit the currently required 50-foot side yard setback to be reduced to 20 feet.
The presentation to the Planning Board provided drawings and specifications presented with the caveat that it was a concept and future design and specs could be very different depending on how the zoning and dimensional requirements end up being determined.
“This is just to give an idea of what we’re envisioning in a project that we think would work there and would make sense,” Giunta said.
The four-level building’s ground floor would have three 2,000 square-foot retail spaces fronting on Great Plain Avenue. The upper floors would include 11 two-bedroom units, nine one-bedroom units and six three-bedroom units, including two nearly 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom units on the top floor.
The nearly 60,000-square-foot building would be 45 feet tall and feature an underground parking garage with 43 spaces.
Parking emerged as a major consideration among Planning Board members, along with seeking assurances that there would be considerable outreach to neighbors as the process moves forward.
There was no overt criticism of the decision to bring the zoning change directly to Town Meeting. Board members did inquire if Derenzo might reconsider that option and instead adhere to the standard Planning Board process, but Giunta did not relent.
“This is not a new project to the Planning Board,” noted member Adam Block. “We’ve all seen it. We’ve all commented on it before.”
“I would be open to potentially having the board sponsor the by-law change, but we’d have to have that conversation as a board.”
Both Block and Board Chair Artie Crocker strongly encouraged Derenzo to engage in a robust public outreach effort.
“As we progress forward, we will be doing some meet-and-greets where we present it and get some inputs,” Giunta said. He also agreed to come back to the Planning Board for further discussion, perhaps as soon as the board’s next meeting Jan. 20.
The project will still require a Planning Board public hearing before a warrant article can be developed for submission to the Select Board, which is responsible for the Town Meeting warrant. Should it reach Town Meeting, the article would need to be approved by a two-thirds vote.
The half-acre lot includes a 3,264 square-foot Colonial-style house built in 1926. Derenzo purchased the property in late 2020 from former Hillcrest Gardens proprietor Joseph Quinnan for $2,050,000.
Its assessed value nearly doubled in 2025 from $1.1 million to $2,038,900.
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