A local developer, Matt Borrelli, is proposing to take advantage of the town’s new MBTA Communities Act zoning to construct a three-story, 14-unit apartment building at 242 Hillside Ave., located roughly halfway between Hunnewell Avenue and West Street, near the Center at the Heights.
The property was sold in August 2024 for $1.825 million to Needham Enterprises, which presented its plans for the site to the Design Review Board Nov. 17. The DRB reviews and offers comments on permit applications for all new structures and outdoor uses in the town.
Those comments will be reviewed by the Planning Board at its Dec. 2 meeting, the next municipal stop for the 242 Hillside project. It is in need only of approval for new curb cuts, Attorney George Giunta Jr. said during his presentation to the DRB.
The nearly half-acre lot currently is home to a two-family home built in 1940. Commercial enterprises have also utilized the site over the years, including an HVAC contractor, an oil burner service firm and a landscaping company.
The plan presented by Needham Enterprises calls for the current home to be demolished and replaced by a 12,000-square-foot multifamily building with eight two-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units. Two of the units would be designated as affordable — a one-bedroom unit on the first floor and a two-bedroom third-floor unit.
Architect Scott Melching led a presentation of the 20-plus page site development plans, which were well-received by DRB members. He said the design is intended to blend in with the neighborhood.
“The intent of the design is to not mimic but play nice with others on the street,” he told the board. “We have a lot of pitched roof buildings, a lot of one and two families on the street.”
He said it “fits in well with the neighborhood and we’ll make this a welcome addition to the street.”
The property will have two one-bedroom units at its basement level. The three above-ground floors will all have four units. The eight two-bedroom units will range between 800 and 920 square feet. The six one-bedroom units will range between 540 and 670 square feet.
The building will be 40 feet tall and environmentally friendly. “The energy code in Massachusetts is quite aggressive, and this building will follow that,” Melching said. “It will be an all-electric building.”
The zoning requires one parking space per unit and 17 spaces will be provided.
Without the MBTA zoning option, the underlying zoning would have limited the number of allowable units on the 0.4-acre site to less than half of the proposed 14, Borrelli said. A building with fewer units, he said, would have likely been built as luxury rentals.
“Under this plan I am seeking 14 units that will be much smaller and marketed to commuters, people in the workforce and people looking to downsize with an affordable component,” Borrelli, a former town Select Board member, told the Observer via email.
Needham Enterprises recently began construction on a similarly-targeted six-unit building at 339 Chestnut St., although that is not being built under MBTA zoning rules.
During its questioning, the DRB raised no substantial objections, praised the overall design and asked questions about landscaping and tree selection.
“It’s really a nice, scaled building. It’s broken up well. It’s fitting into a neighborhood of residential structures,” DRB Chair Mark Gluesing said.
“You’ve managed to create the character of that neighborhood in the specifics of what’s there now in a nice way. And I like the color mix.”
MBTA zoning impact
“It provides a different kind of living, a different housing typology,” Melching said. “The MBTA Communities Act was really intended to bring this variety to commuter [rail] towns.”
“Single-family homes dominate Needham. This will bring more types of folks to our town, which is really a good thing,” he added.
This is the second project proposed in Needham under the new MBTA zoning, which was approved at Annual Town Meeting this past May. Both projects are in the Avery Square district.
Shortly after the new zoning was ratified, a national developer brought forward a 189-unit plan for 100-110 West St., a little over a mile from the 242 Hillside site.
That project faced minimal public opposition during the Planning Board’s site plan review public hearing process and it was approved at the board’s Nov. 19 meeting.
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