Boston Zoning Board Approves Affordable Housing, Denies Fenway Restaurant and Mattapan Project

BOSTON — October 7, 2025 — Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal approved affordable housing projects across several neighborhoods at its October 7 hearing, including 15 affordable homeownership units on Beacon Hill and 38 fully affordable units in Roxbury, while denying a Fenway quick-service restaurant and a 13-unit Mattapan residential building without prejudice. Chair Dawn Stone presided over the remote session, during which Fenway Forward won unanimous approval to convert two lodging houses at 27 and 29 Hancock Street into affordable condominiums, fulfilling an off-site obligation tied to the Archer Residences project approved years earlier. The Islamic Society of Boston received approval for a six-story mixed-use building at 722 to 730 Shawmut Avenue, proposing a floor-area ratio of four against a required one. Wonder, a quick-service restaurant seeking a large-takeout conditional use permit at 1260 Boylston Street, was denied without prejudice after the Planning Department maintained its ghost-kitchen characterization and the board found the 3,019-square-foot concept — 519 square feet over the threshold — more suited to delivery volume than neighborhood streetscape. The 13-unit proposal at 6 Allmont Street in Mattapan also fell short; a first approval vote failed when Chair Stone voted no, and the board subsequently denied the project without prejudice, with planners citing the February 2024 Mattapan rezoning designed to preserve small-scale residential character.