Boston Zoning Board Approves 170-Unit Allston Post Project, Post Office Return Possible

BOSTON — January 9, 2024 — Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal approved more than a dozen development proposals at its January 9 opening hearing of the year, headlined by a 170-unit mixed-use project at the former Allston post office site and a 57-unit all-affordable housing complex in East Boston. The Allston Post project, presented by attorney Brian Judge on behalf of Eden Harvard LLC, cleared three variances — floor area ratio of 3.04 against an allowable 1.0, building height of 69 feet 10 inches against a 35-foot limit, and a rear yard setback as narrow as 0.5 feet — and includes nearly $280,000 in community mitigation contributions and 29 affordable IDP units representing 17 percent of the total. A letter of intent with the U.S. Postal Service is signed for ground-floor retail space, though no lease has been executed, leaving open the question of whether Allston's post office, closed since 2019, will formally return. The East Boston CDC's fully affordable project at 80 and 82 Shawsheen Road — 35 rental units serving households from 30 to 60 percent AMI and 22 condominiums from 70 to 100 percent AMI — was approved over a 37-to-4 neighborhood council vote in opposition, with the city's Office of Housing calling it "an important affordable housing development." The board separately denied, without prejudice, a bed-and-breakfast application at 149 Lexington Street after the BPDA flagged that submitted plans still showed full kitchens on each floor, incompatible with that use.