Boston Zoning Board Approves Cookhouse Restaurant, Rejects Andrew Square Condo Project

BOSTON -- February 27, 2024, Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal approved a new South Boston restaurant called Cookhouse and denied two residential projects at its February 27 remote hearing. The board voted unanimously to approve a conditional use permit for 429-431 West Broadway, where chef-owner Nick Dixon and co-owners Eric Allembeck and Mike Harmon plan to combine two shuttered restaurant spaces, the Meatball Shop and South East Chinese, into a single full-service venue with roughly 416 seats across two floors and a wood-fired open kitchen. The board denied without prejudice a 13-unit, no-parking condominium at 617 Dorchester Avenue near Andrew Station, with five of six members voting to deny after councilors from Districts 2 and 6 filed joint opposition and the Andrews Square Civic Association cited density and open space concerns; one dissenting member called the transit-adjacent project "an archetype of transit-oriented development." The board also denied without prejudice four companion cases for a proposed six-unit condo at 54-56 Dorset Street in Dorchester after BPDA staff cited excessive parking, loss of green space, and a floor-area ratio the board called triple the existing density.