Buoyed by Support from Mayor and O’Malley, 3200 Washington St. Cruises Through Final Hurdle

It was high noon for the 3200 Washington St. LLC development team on Tuesday. At exactly noon the Zoning Board of Appeals opened testimony that lasted over an hour for and against the largest development in the history of Egleston Square, estimated to cost $23 million: Three buildings from 5 to 6 stories high with 73 rental apartments and three for-sale townhouses on a sloping 3/4 acre site at Washington St and Montebello Road. At 1:15 pm the ZBA voted to grant the requested variances 6-1. ZBA member Bruce Bickerstaff voted no.

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City Chooses JP Development Team for 52 Montebello Road

Mark your calendars: Thursday, Aug. 13.  5:30 p.m. Boston Redevelopment Authority board room. That's the day and time the BRA board will hear from and vote on the 3200 Washington Street/52 Montebello Road developments. This date was set 24 hours after the Department of Neighborhood Development voted to designate 3190 Washington St. LCC as developer of 50-52 Montebello Road.

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Testifying at a City Council hearing: L-R: Jacqueline Gomez, Marta Franco, Crisanto Rosas, Zenaida Flores, Rita Paul and María Christina Blanco.

Meet Tenant Organizer María Christina Blanco

Tuesday marks the kickoff of a city-sponsored review of what Washington Street should be like from Forest Hills to Jackson Square. A lot of interests will be in play as residents and officials build that master plan. Expect many of those voices to come from JP-based City Life/Vida Urbana, a tenants' rights organization. Jamaica Plain News recently walked Washington Street with María Christina Blanco, a lead organizer with City Life. The city has dubbed the planning effort "Plan JP/Rox: Preserve.

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The Jamaica Plain News Guide to Washington Street

As the Boston Redevelopment Authority's "Plan JP/ROX: Preserve. Enhance. Grow" kicks off at an open house on Tuesday at Brookside Community Health Center, here's a primer on Washington Street. Whatever the  name "Plan JP/ROX" means  to the BRA public relations office, in reality this is the long advocated and awaited planning process for the Washington Street corridor from Forest Hills to Egleston Square. Privately built as a 35-mile toll road from Dudley Square to Providence in 1806, Washington Street became a free public way in 1857. The focus of the planning process is a 6,724 foot segment of this thoroughfare from the Casey Arborway to Egleston Square.

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Decision on Key Egleston Development Delayed — Again

What began exactly a year ago on July 23, 2014 when the Egleston Square Neighborhood Association got a premier showing of the plans for the Economy Plumbing site is no closer to approval. For the second time, the developers of 3200 Washington St. asked the Zoning Board of Appeals for deferment at its scheduled hearing on Tuesday. Speaking on behalf of local developers Justin Iantosca and Dan Mangiacotti, Attorney Joe Hanley requested the deferral because "we are still finalizing the Article 80 Large Project Review application" for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The development team is now scheduled for the Zoning Board hearing on Tuesday, Sept 15.

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Neighborhood Board Deadlocks Over 3200 Washington St. Development

In the end the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Zoning Committee was as divided as the rest of Egleston Square on the fate of 3200 Washington St. At its Wednesday meeting the Committee voted 5-5 on a motion to deny approval of the largest development in Egleston Square history. (One member of the 11 in attendance was ineligible to vote). Developers Dan Mangiacotti and Justin and Joseph Iantosca can now take that deadlocked vote together with what their attorney Joe Hanley said was "over a hundred-plus letters of support" to their regularly-scheduled Zoning Board of Appeals hearing on July 21. It was a packed house of over 60 people.

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Rendering of "Bartlett Square 2" as proposed in a June 2015 filing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority.

Four-Story ‘Bartlett Square 2’ Proposed for Lot Beside Green Street T

A Jamaica Plain builder who in March failed to get support from a bellwether neighborhood committee for the liquor license he'll need for a casual seafood restaurant next to Green Street T has filed plans for the entire development. Chris DeSisto of Maple Hurst Builders aims to anchor a new multi-use building at the corner of Green and Amory with a restaurant. "Bartlett Square 2" would mirror many aspects of his existing Bartlett Square building across the street. Differences include that instead of condos, the new building would have 15 apartments, office space and retail. The JP Neighborhood Council's Public Service Committee deadlocked in March on whether to back the booze license.

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Deep Divisions on Display in Comments on 3200 Washington St. Development

The comment period for 3200 Washington St. — the largest development in Egleston Square in half a century — ended May 1. There were 119 letters of support — many of them form letters — and 45 opposed. There were also two petitions, one in favor and the other opposed. It is an unprecedented development in scale, density and cost but also in community debate; there were two Boston Redevelopment Authority-sponsored public meetings and the comment period was extended three times (April 3, April 15 and May 1).

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3200 Washington St.: The Future of Egleston Square in the Balance

A Boston Redevelopment Authority-sponsored public meeting about the planned development of  the former Economy Plumbing evolved into a protest on the very future of Egleston Square. The day after the contentious Wednesday meeting, Mayor Martin Walsh addressed the Urban Land Institute — a group of which toured Egleston Square this week — on the need for a Washington Street planning process that combines "development and consensus." BRA Assistant Project manager Ed McGuire cautioned a packed house at the Egleston Square YMCA that "this has not been approved. [The BRA] is still reviewing this proposal." The 3- day comment period had been extended to April 15.  "[Your] comment letters are a very important part of this process."

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