Good morning. Good morning. We will now take a moment uh to allow the interpreters for today's meeting to introduce themselves. Believe we have a slide for the order of which our our interpreters will introduce themselves this morning. Melissa.
>> Yes. Hello everybody. I'm Melissa. I'm the Spanish interpreter. >> John. >> Hi. Good morning. My name is John. I'll be the Cantonese interpreter for this morning's meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Hi, good morning. Uh my name is Wei. I will be your mandering interpreter for the meeting. Okay, back to you, sir. >> Thank you. And our interpretation channels will be open. Uh, so thank you for joining the Boston Zoning Commission public hearing. Uh, the open public
meeting law requires that I notify the public that this meeting is being recorded. Please be aware that an audio and visual recording of this meeting is being made. I will now take a roll call of members of the commission present at the beginning of the meeting. Please identify yourself as being present. Miss Hatton, >> present.
>> Miss Morawa, >> present. >> Miss Miller, [clears throat] >> Mr. Maher, >> present. >> Mr. Left, >> present. >> Mr. Aoyo, >> present. >> Mr. McNeel, >> present. [clears throat]
>> Mr. Woods, >> present. >> And I'm Michael Nichols and I am present. Uh, we will move forward with our 9:00 a.m. public hearing. This is a public hearing before the Boston Zoning Commission
to consider the first amendment to the development plan. The hearing was duly advertised on February 19, 2026 in the Boston Herald. Are you also listening? >> In a Boston zoning commission hearing on proposed petitions, the proponent will first present their case and is subject
to questioning first by members of the commission only. After commissioners are done with questioning, we will be taking support in opposition through public testimony at the same time. When I call for all testimony, please click the hand icon on your Zoom control panel. This will signal to our staff that you wish to speak. Staff will announce your name
and allow you to speak. When you are promoted, you must unmute your microphone. However, your webcam will not be active. If you're calling into the meeting and would like to note your interest in testifying, please dial star9 to raise your hand. In an effort to accommodate all who wish to speak about this proposal, each person will be
limited to up to two minutes to comment. Commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain. At that time, please conclude your remarks so that the hearing may continue and others may be heard. At the end of public testimony, the proponents will be allowed a brief period of rebuttal if they so desire. Uh, will the planning department please
begin this morning's presentation? I can take this. I don't know if Tyler's here yet. Tara. >> Um, okay. I will message right now. >> I can I can just go over this. Um, this is a a brief overview slide to start the
presentation. Um, highlighting some of the key benefits um from this project. related to jobs um with the healthcare clinic office use that um is created the jobs um that will follow as well as the current office uses and temporary
construction jobs that will be associated with the project. Um, as far as the community benefits, um, additional, um, well, it allows for, um, the retention and, um, for the attraction of new, um, healthcare professionals to the neighborhood and
then, um, additional, um, space also supports, um, the tenant occupancy in the building itself. As far as sustainability, um, it's a essentially a change of use, meaning there's no impact to the exterior envelope. Um, and it also means
that for residents in Boston, um, there will be shorter commutes. So, next slide, please. >> Tyler also just joined if there's any other information needed. >> Yes, sorry about that. My, uh, we just got new laptops here in the city and my laptop was having some uh, technical difficulties loading up here, but I can
uh, um, get into the remarks in just a second. And I'll let I don't know if Andrew just finished his. >> Yeah, >> I think we can >> Andrew could do his uh planning context slide and then Tyler would do his first
slide uh after this context. >> Thanks, Ted. Um so yeah, my name is Andrew Plum. I'm the planner assigned to this project. Um, the proposed project is located in a community commercial district of the Mission Hill Neighborhood Zoning District and is
subject to PDA number 52. Located at the intersection of Tmont Street and Huntington A property marks the entryway to the Mission Hill neighborhood from the Longwood Medical Area. The proposed amendment enables clinic uses um in space previously
designated for offices in the upper stories of the existing mixeduse building. This is consistent with the surrounding area active commercial uses on the first floor and allows the proponent additional flexibility due to the decline in demand for office uses
since the adoption of the PDA. I can now turn it back over to Tyler. Thank you. >> Thank you, Andrew. I'm just getting working to bring up um our remarks here. U thank you. Um thank you to Mr. Chair
and the members of um the zoning commission. Name is Tyler Ross, senior project manager here in the development review division. Um >> Tyler, as you get started, I'm just going to note that um Commissioner Miller has joined us and is here for the record. >> Okay, great. So, the proposal before you
is the first amended and restated development plan um PDA development um number 52 known as one Brigham Circle located um at 1610 to 1620 Tremont Street in neighborhood of Mission Hill.
Um on November 14th, 2025, the proponent filed their first in uh first amended and restated development plan. The proposed amendment seeks to add clinic and accessory use within the site, specifically only within 66,700 square
ft of the existing floor area on the second and third floors of the original project's main building. The planning department hosted uh one public meeting on January 7, 2026, which was well attended and advertised in the local newspaper. The proponent also worked
with local elected officials and community uh organizations to garner support for the amended and restated development plan to PDA number 52. Um so I can now turn it over to the proponent to get into the proposal. Thank you guys.
>> Thank you Tyler. Just making sure everyone can can hear me. Okay. >> All right. Um thank you Tyler. Uh Andrew and and Ted. My name is Joe Hanley. I am the zoning and permitting attorney for AW who is the uh property owner and
proponent of this uh PDA modification. Um I'd like to just take you through quickly our uh presentation uh for this uh next slide please. Um, so I'll introduce you to our team.
Um, expand a little bit on what Tyler indicated at a very positive community and public outreach uh, process for this proposed change. Um, show you a little bit about the existing site and obviously the PDA regulatory controls
and the zoning and what is being proposed. Uh, and then allow for ample time for questions and answers part of the process. Um, next slide please. So AEW is uh not relatively new, but they are the second they're the current owner
of uh One Brighgam Circle, which is a uh cherished uh transitional and impactful multi- uh mixeduse development in the heart of uh Mission Hills Business District uh in Brigham Circle. Um, Cat Jerome is
the vice president with AEW, working with Vesua Sha as the asset uh, management associate. Wes Williams is our uh, property manager. I introduced you to myself, my partner Nick Soul worked on this with us as well as Howard
Stein Hudson and the architects from Shepley Old Finch. Next slide, please. Um so we began uh earlier uh this year uh taking a proactive approach to engage with all the stakeholders in this
neighborhood uh including the Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services uh uh organization which was integral integral in the '9s uh to uh visioning and really bringing One Brighgam Circle
to fruition uh when it opened in early 2000. thousands. Uh they also are a tenant of our space and a a former partner owner of the asset. So uh they were very helpful in guiding us through this process. Uh we've also uh
interacted with the city councilors. You'll see here the district city councelor uh meetings with the city and planning department and the community alliance of the of Mission Hill. We obtained a vote of support from that group and we also obtained uh the
support from uh NHS. Next slide please. So uh the existing site and folks are probably familiar with this if you go to the next site. um one Brigham Circle you can see right here it is uh at the prominent intersection of Calumat
uh Tremont and Huntington Avenue uh again in the heart of uh the Brigham uh circle business district from Mission Hill. Um, I'm sure plenty of folks on this hearing uh know that uh this was I
think probably in the city one of the uh most well-known and uh positive uh developments uh from the late 90s and early 2000s not just in this neighborhood but across the city. it um it was the result of lots of
work uh with folks uh from the community, NHS and and others uh that addressed a food desert and brought a a uh supermarket to Mission Hill. uh also, you know, ground floor uh retail,
restaurant active uses, parking, uh open spaces and infrastructure improvements as well as uh the Kevin Fitzgerald uh park which is part of this PDA area and and is a extremely valuable public asset
uh in the neighborhood and in the city. on the um what you'll see here on the the upper levels of this building. Uh there has been a long-term lease for quite some time for uh doctor's offices and as I think Andrew described and and
uh Tyler as well that uh since the pandemic um there really is record uh big impacts, not a lot of demand for that and we're seeing sort of an exodus uh of office space and so we engaged
with the community to try to get in front of that. Uh the current lease with uh Mass General Bighgam who has the doctor's offices on the upper levels is scheduled to expire in 2028. We do not
know uh whether they'll renew. Uh certainly market conditions do not indicate that for office there'll be a continued need for that. And so uh we have explored and this is why we're here to talk about a partial uh clinic use as
part of the table of uses to allow some flexibility and really do some future proofing uh for this important asset. Next slide please. So the before is really now um this is not a projectbased PDA at this point.
It's a again a futurep proofed um optionality that would merely allow for uh clinic an accessory clinic uh as part of the PDA's table of uses. And so you you can see here we say before this is
current. You see our current tenants on uh Huntington and Tremont that activation uh as well as uh the supermarket. Uh and uh Walgreens all of that uh remains. There's been a little bit of changes in
some of the tenants, but all the uses remain. Uh and then you can see in the the blue is the upper level with uh the MGB lease and in the back or what we call in the neighborhood the front of
Cal Met Street is surface parking uh and uh access to the Kevin Fitzgerald Park and um you'll see on plan left uh that there's access to underground parking says office parking P off Tremont and
and also uh vehicular ingress and egress uh off calimett in addition to the surface level. Next slide please. So, pretty simple before and after. You'll see in the salmon color. What
we're proposing is to um allow as part of the table of uses um approximately 10,000 square ft of uh new healthcare care clinic space on the second level that you'll see plan left
and uh then uh an additional uh 33 thou 38,318,400 of that clinic use on the uh third level again in in the salmon keeping the office on the on the top level. Next slide, please.
So, uh why we're here today uh for the PDA. If you go to the next slide, we are in uh PDA number 52. Uh was approved by this commission in June of 2021. again after uh lots of positive work uh in the
community and uh providing both the park and this cherished asset and this contributing program. Um there have been no amendments to the PDA since it was approved. Uh exhibit C of the development plan uh has the allowed uses
and what we are merely looking to do is uh add a clinic and accessory clinic uh as a used to exhibit C uh for those areas of the building that uh we showed you. And that would be uh a total of
approximately 66,700 square ft. All just an interior uh uh optionality if you will. So no expansion to the envelope or or uh or its square footage. Um there are 384 total parking
spaces, 136 of the surface lot off Calumeat um which is closest to the neighborhood the residential neighborhood and then 248 garage spaces which I showed you the ingress and ingress egress off from uh Tremont and
Calumeat. No other changes are proposed to the PDA. Um just going to go through the concepts really quickly and this really reflects a lot of the things that we learned and were guided by uh in the community um outreach and engagement
process and a lot of it was trying to get in front of some of the programming uh for uh this clinic use. Now, in the future, if we're if we're fortunate enough to have uh a clinic tenant, they
will have to go back through a process for that as well. But again, this would just allow that optionality uh under the P PDA, but with some uh conditions that we've worked closely uh with the community on. So, uh next slide, please.
I will show you the next slide. One of the big discussions that we had and we've worked on is pickup and drop off associated with clinic use. We know that if we do have a clinic use, it has different uh mobility aspects than um
doctor's offices. And it was really important for the neighborhood and the city helped and the transportation planners helped significantly on this uh that we direct a lot of the drop off vehicular and pedestrian access off
Tremont Street um in the and and try to alleviate impacts off Calumet especially uh going out and up into the neighborhood. You'll see on this plan uh new uh pickup drop off proposals that we
continue to work through. Um as well as on the next slide uh we'll show you how the proposed parking and site context works. Uh plan left is the uh first floor clinic visitor parking. And so
we're able to um do this in a way to to minimize the Calat Street neighborhood uh traffic impacts and provide more queuing space within the garage itself. And so cars for the vehicles for the
clinic use uh would enter on Tremont Street into the interior garage. again more queuing space and then exit onto Calumeat which you can see on far plan right uh and working to direct that
traffic back towards Brigham Circle and away from uh the residential neighborhood. Um next slide shows you that um what we've done on the uh upper levels. We've dedicated one tray of
parking within the garage for the future clinic use. um and also worked on wayfinding uh to make sure that uh folks come from the parking area uh provided they're driving uh into the building and
that uh works in a way that doesn't disturb the other tenants and uh has a a flow that is logical. And you'll see in this second floor plan which is really where the bulk of the clinic would be allowed uh on that area and also is is
where that parking level provide uh direct access. Now obviously we want to encourage mobility from other avenues but we do know that we have the parking and that clinic is going to generate that. Um and then the next uh page you'll see the third third floor plan.
I'm sorry. I This is actually where the bulk of of the use is. Um and this is the 56,700 square ft that would allow clinic on that level. Again, accessed uh through the second level uh within the building,
but also direct access uh from parking. So, I got to conclude on that. I again just want to thank um all of the uh the folks at the BPDA uh who provide a lot of guidance on that on this as well as NHS and the community
alliance. Um my client myself were fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants and people who worked really hard to bring this um amazing development to fruition in the early 2000s. And this is really important to make sure that its
vitality remains uh and that we have this option as we address current market challenges together. Thank you. >> Terrific. Thank you. Uh before taking public testimony, we'll see if there are any um questions from members of the commission.
>> I I guess I just had a quick question on the parking maybe for Joe. Um, so the retail tenants and their parking, even though they're on that same level as the smaller component of the clinic, uh, the parking for those uses is in that separate retail um, garage area. Could
you just clarify where people coming to the stop and shop in Walgreens would park? >> Yeah. So, thank you, Member Hatton. I don't don't know if one of the slides speaks to it, but um as I said, there are there's garage parking and then there's surface parking off Cali Met
Street, which if you were looking at Tremont Street, it's in the back. And of course, the neighborhood is res on that residential side. So, there's a lot of uh surface parking. Most of the folks who drive, who go to stop and shop, it has direct access to shop, stop and
shop. There's short-term parking. And one of the things that was really important is that you know with the neighbors is that we not utilize or rely on that for the clinic space. >> Okay. >> And so we yeah we'll also be working with the tenants again if we're
fortunate enough to utilize the use or have that opportunity um to program that as you know all of us go to clinics and you say you know parking is available here. We also want to direct people to the extent that it is uh um feasible,
you know, by foot and train. And then we also think that there's a good audience here in the Mission Hill and surrounding neighborhoods. Um but yeah, so there's a there's a vast amount of parking up there. If you were going to the park, you might park there. If you're going to the Walgreens, that's uh off that
surface lot. And then of course there's a main entry off that surface lot that then takes you down into um the area of the building that has uh the street level retail and activation on Tremont Street in the courtyard.
>> Okay. And then the la the last comment was just um in terms of in our materials there were a couple exclusions which you noted but didn't detail but I assume that'll just be a a footnote to the clinic and accessory clinic uses that would be added to the table.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And that was something that we we also uh I'm sorry that I didn't detail that more that we worked uh uh with the neighbors on. It was included in the BPDA board memo for your recommendation and also included uh in
um in the amendment as a as a you know a footnote which you guys do quite often, right? might use and say, "Well, it's this type of lab or and and the the the concern was that it it not turn into a
entirely a um you know, a a teragonal call treatment facility without having that uh process be further process being that issue, you know." >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. >> Thank you. Any other questions for
members of the commission? Okay. Hearing none, we will invite public testimony from members of the public. If you are interested in testifying, please now indicate your interest by raising your hand on Google or if on on Zoom rather. And if you are uh joining us on the phone, you can um
hit star 9 to indicate your interest in in testifying. Public comments will be limited to two minutes and you will be notified when you have 30 seconds that remain. >> We have Flattery. We are three minutes start now. >> Sorry, we're having a little bit of uh
trouble understanding your audio, but I do see that >> Pat Flity is up first. >> My name is Patricia Flareity and I'm a resident of Calamett Street around the corner from one Brigham Circle and I'm also the executive director of Mission
Hill Neighborhood Housing Services. Um, Mission Hill NHS would like to go on record in strong support of this first amendment to the PDA for Brigham Circle. Um, and supports the addition of clinical use as an allowed use at this
location. Um, as Joe Hanley indicated, the staff and board of Mission Hill NHS has met several times and has had many dialogues with the proponent about this needed modification. We've attended and participated in other communitywide
meetings and we have executed anou with the proponent ensuring that the concerns that were raised about any potential impacts of this change in use are heard and are mitigated. And I would like to
say um just a little bit of history. Some of you might remember that Mission Hill NHS uh community development corporation ran the original multi-year particip participatory planning process that resulted in the Mission Hill Community Vision of One Brigham Circle
and we actually helped to implement purchase the property um and were part of the original ownership team. And although the the site was sold 15 years ago, we continue to have our office space at Limberham Circle and we work
very closely with the proponent AEW um and we're co-owners of um Kevin Fitzgerald Park. >> With that, we see the impact of the loss of office space postcoid from Brighamin Women's. We know this change of use will bring new users not only to one Brigham
Circle but to the commercial area. And as someone who personally was involved in drafting the original PDA, I I would like to go on so on record in support of this change in use, which can only benefit the entire retail area. Thank you.
>> Great. Thank you so much, Patricia. Um, next is Lily Swedman. Your two minutes start now. >> Good morning. Thank you to the commission for providing the opportunity to comment. Uh my name is Lily Swederman and I'm here on behalf of the District 8
city councelor Sharon Durkin who represents the Mission Hill neighborhood. Uh in tandem with the robust community support that attorneyly Hanley outlined and Patricia Flity reiterated councelor Durkin would like to go on record in support of this project. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much Lily. Um next up is Martin Ben. Your two minutes start now. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Martin Binborn. I'm the president of the community alliance of
Mission Hill, the local civic association of Mission Hill Neighbor Neighbors and Abatas. The applicants made themselves available twice to discuss with us. Uh we then voted essentially unanimously to support the
plan. Our input was heard leading to the footnotes briefly mentioned today. and uh people felt that this was a a measure that will ensure viability of a key building for Mission Hill into the future. Thank you for the opportunity to
speak. >> So much that seems to be all of our public comment. >> Great. Thank you. Then we will um close out public comment and move into our uh business meeting. Um >> comments, questions or uh potentially
motions from members of the commission? Yes, I think this is a I think this is a very reasonable um proposal. It keeps this uh u uh uh facility this development uh active and it has
relatively little impact which has been well addressed. So I'm certainly in support of it. >> Yeah, I I would concur to the extent also that just the way that medical services are delivered has changed. This is a very logical way to address in the
use table how um you know the community and and uh patients being can be connected to u medical uses. So it made a lot of sense to modernize it in in effect in my mind too. Hey uh I'd like to add uh David Maher
here. Uh Joe terrific presentation. Uh thank you for that. you know, we all are very familiar with the the neighborhood there. It's a historic and iconic part of Boston and uh it it's it's very unique and how everybody gets
there and how everybody leaves there. So, the upgrade to uh with with these improvements, I hope continues to spur more development and more improvement um within many of the services that are
that are provided there. So, great job. Good luck. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Chair. I would make a motion that we approve the first amendment to development plan for plan development area number 521, Brigham Circle. >> Second that motion.
>> We've got a motion and a second. Um, before moving to roll call vote, I I'll just um in my own right reiterate um what the proponents said in uh appreciation for for the work of Pat Flity and and Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services who really um
established just a phenomenal foundation for for this site. It really is an incredibly positive contributor to the Mission Hill community. With that, we'll move to a roll call vote. Um Miss Hatton, >> yes. >> Miss Morawa, >> yes. Miss Miller,
>> yes. >> Mr. Maher, >> yes. >> Mr. Left, >> yes. >> Mr. Royo, >> I vote yes. >> Mr. McNeel, >> yes. >> Mr. Woods, >> yes. >> And the chair votes yes. So, unanimous support. Uh, motion carries. Um, thank
you very much to the proponents and, uh, the planning team. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, everyone. Have a good day. >> Great job, Joe. >> We'll now move to our second item on the agenda. This is public hear. This is a public hearing before the Boston Zoning Commission to consider the first
amendment to the Wentworth Institute of Technology 2024 to 2034 institutional master plan. The hearing was duly advertised on February 19, 2026 in the Boston Herald. In a Boston Zoning Commission hearing on proposed petitions, the proponent will first
present their case and are subject to questioning first by members of the commission only. After commissioners are done with their questioning, we will then be taking public testimony in the form of support or opposition. At the same time, when I call for all testimony, please click the hand icon on your Zoom control panel. This will
signal to staff that you wish to speak. Staff will be able to announce your name, unmute your and then allow you to unmute your microphone. Your webcam will not be active. If you're calling into the meeting and would like to testify, please dial star9 to raise your hand. In an effort to accommodate all who wish to speak about each proposal, uh you'll be given up to two minutes to comment.
Commission staff will indicate when 30 seconds remain. At that time, please conclude your remarks so that the hearing may continue and others may be heard. At the end of public testimony, the proponents are allowed a brief period of rebuttal if they so desire. Will the planning uh department please begin our second presentation? Mr.
Carter. >> Thank you and good morning, Mr. Chair uh and members of the commission. I'm here before you to present the first amendment to the Wentworth Institute of Technology 2024 to 2034 institutional master plan. The first amendment to the Wentworth IMP
represents a significant enhancement to the vision approved last year. The amendment proposes strategic changes to three of the proposed institutional projects outlined in the 2024 IMP, namely the Pike Residence Hall, the West Quad Academic Building, now the West
Quad Residence Hall, and the Huntington Dorm, which is now the Huntington Academic Building. These adjustments will add approximately 1,822 net new student housing beds to Wentworth's permanent onampus housing
inventory, an increase of approximately 500 beds compared to the original 2024 IMP. This significant expansion will enable Wentworth to house approximately 75 to 85% of its students on campus at the end of the 10-year IMP cycle, up from 55%
currently. This IMP will also allow Wentworth to provide significantly more beds on campus sooner than anticipated in the original IMP. Give Wentworth the ability to house students on campus while building new housing or renovating existing housing. Improve the public realm. Create a residential cluster in
the center of campus and give them the opportunity to build a signature academic building on Huntington Avenue. This amendment enables the creation of the new Pike Residence Hall, replacing a surface parking lot and eliminating approximately 181 parking spaces. The
new dorm will provide 972 student beds, unlocking additional development potential for Wentworth and eventually housing the entire first year class. The dorm will also provide a new signature courtyard that will be programmed to showcase student work on campus as well as significant
improvements to the public realm around the site and a million dollars of investment along the Ruggle Street frontage of the Wentworth campus. The first amendment to Wentworth's institutional master plan and the Pike residence hall represent a bold vision for the future. One that prioritizes student success, environmental
sustainability, and neighborhood connectivity by housing more students on campus and reducing pressure on the rental housing market, eliminating parking and investing in public transit and creating new open spaces and pedestrian connections. Before the Worth team presents the IMP amendment, Alana
Haynes will take you through the plan in context. Thank you. Thanks, Nick. Um, good morning members of the zoning commission. My name is Elana HS and I am the planner assigned to this project. As Nick mentioned, this IMP makes changes to three of the six approved PIPs and seeks article 80B
approval for one amended PIP. The changes include the Pike Residence Hall, uh, new PIP added to the 2025 amendment locating a new residence hall at the site of the existing West parking lot. the West Quad Residence Hall where this amendment proposes a new residence hall
just east of the proposed Pike Residence Hall in lie of the approved West Quad Academic Building clustering student housing on campus and [snorts] the Huntington academic building where this amendment proposes a new academic building in lie of the approved Hunt
Huntington residence hall. Next slide, please. The proposed IMP amendment continues to align with existing citywide planning initiatives. Other changes to this IMP through the amendment include the continued development of an open space framework, a strong civic identity, and
an inclusive campus. The Wentworth campus forms an important connection between the Emerald Necklace Park System and the Southwest Corridor. The proposed front lawn from the approved IMP and the redesign of the pike in this amendment work towards the goal of connecting the emerald necklace to other systems as
outlined in the city's 2023 2029 open space and recreation plan. Changes to the Pike Residence Hall also better support the Avenue of the Arts design guidelines through setbacks from the public realm. Changes to the PIPs, including the iterations on the Pike Residence Hall, have resulted in an
increase in sunlight hours to the open spaces on campus and less than two hours maximum shadow per day on the opposite sidewalk. key goals of the design guidelines. The IMP continues to align with other citywide plans such as housing a changing city blessed in 2030
through the amendment which nets an additional approximately 500 student beds compared to the approved IMP tying into the goal of creating 16,000 new undergraduate student dorm beds for Boston's colleges and universities across the city by 2030.
Projects completed under this IMP, including the residence hall, will continue to undergo design review in the planning department, during which process staff will continue to address wind mitigation, programming for open space for year- round use, and transportation. Thank you. I will now
turn it over to the development team to present this project in further detail. Uh, good morning, um, Mr. Chairman and members of the commission. My name is Rebecca Lee. I'm an attorney with Mince Levven. I'm here with Matt Gruber, the senior vice president for finance
administration at Wentworth and with Amy Aante from Balffor Batty Campus Solutions, which is the entity that will be the developer for this project. As you may recall, Wentworth was established more than 100 years ago, educates approximately 4,000
undergraduates and 2,000 grad 200 graduate students. about 10% of their undergraduates come from high schools in Boston and they focus on career paths that include engineering, industrial design, construction management, and architecture.
>> Uh much of the existing onampus housing is old and obsolete. And after receiving approval in the fall of 2024 from the BPDA and the zoning commission of a new 10-year master plan, Wentworth proceeded with assessing the feasibility of moving
forward with a new dormatory project. This is consistent with the city's goal of fostering the creation of 18,500 new dormatory beds in Boston by 2030. After an extensive feasibility analysis,
um, Wentworth determined that it was economically feasible to move forward with a new dormatory project only if it were located on an existing parking lot in the heart of the campus and undertaken in collaboration with an experienced private developer of campus
housing facilities. And among these considerations of course has been very volatile capital markets as well as ever rising construction costs. So Wentworth undertook an RFP process and selected
Balffor Batty um a nationally renowned developer of student housing facilities and campuses across the nation. The location of the new project would avoid having to relocate temporarily approximately 200 students who live in the existing obsolete dormitories
located on Huntington Avenue. I'm not sure who's controlling the slides here, by the way. Yeah. Okay. So, if you look on Huntington Avenue to your left, you'll see that there's a fire station and then
this pink area below it, the um is going to be one of the new buildings that I will be talking about, but it was originally slated to be a dorm. And um you'll see that in the middle next to the power plant is this large
181 space 198 pardon me uh space asphalt parking garage. And so this was a framework where um Wentworth looked at the feasibility of how are we going to get a major dorm built without having to relocate students from existing
dormitories. So they had originally proposed 126,000 um square foot building Pike Residence Hall and as redesigned if we move to the next slide the Pike Residence Hall will
contain 220 22,000 square ft and 972 beds plus three resident um community director beds. The will enable Wentworth to house its entire firstear class which will be very
notable in terms of educational research that shows that kids who live on campus in their first year and went where students are required to live on campus in their first year succeed better are retained better by the institution and have better social and academic success.
And that is really what is proposed. If we move to the next slide, which is the new campus plan, you'll see right in the middle here, this pink is the Pike Residence Hall. To the left is the Huntington Academic Building, which
would replace what would have been a residence hall and will be a signature building for Wentworth on Huntington Avenue. And this other pink building right here will be the West Quad Residential Building that'll house 300 beds.
So, the Pike Residence Hall is designed to house two student communities on each floor other than the top two floors. And it'll be centrally located. And it and this site plan shows a revised site
design that strengthens the Pike that runs east west through the the Wentworth campus from Huntington Avenue and over where the Mass Art Treehouse dorm is, which is this white building. and it moves east all the way over to Parker
Street and into the eastern part of the Wentworth campus which is also slated to be reconstructed with new buildings in the future and those buildings are already contained in the institutional master plan. So you have the the three
buildings changed here are this Huntington academic building, the Pike Residence Hall, the Quad Residence Hall, and you'll see generous new open spaces between these buildings, all of which are south facing, which means there'll be much more desirable and fun to be in
in Boston seasons. Um, there's also a new north south pedestrian connector that will enable folks to come in from Rugle Street through a a landscape pedestrian path and connect to the to the ped pedestrian path, which as you
can see is an important connector for the neighborhood. Otherwise, this campus would not be as permeable as it is. This is not a campus that has gates around it. This is a campus in which members of the community walk through it all day
every day and which there are in fact facilities on campus available to the neighborhood. So together these two residence halls will add about 2,00 uh 1,272 beds. There's also a new Baker residence
hall to the southwest here in pink. that will be part of the um master plan has already been approved with um 550 beds. So altogether we're looking at the addition of 1545 beds on the Wentworth campus
and the campus will altogether contain about 3,576 beds at the end of the day. And as you can see, along with these campus projects are substantial landscape, open space and pedestrian circulation
improvements and an overall site plan that has been worked on very thoroughly, very collaboratively with the urban design staff in city hall and Perkins and Will, the architects here and uh
also the campus master planners here. And so in closing, this is um a new vision of Wetworth for the future. A new building that is scheduled to close on its financing this June, move into construction, and open by the academic
year 2028-29. So, in closing, I also want to thank uh the Boston Planning Department, Boston Transportation Department um staff for a really very collaborative um intense effort to move this project through the
article 80B process fairly quickly. We filed in the end of July. We're here before you in March. We close in June. These are all very important milestones for Wentworth and we um ask for your support. Thank you.
Thank you. Um, we'll now proceed with uh questions for members of the commission only followed by public testimony. Are there any questions from our commissioners? Okay. Hearing none, we'll move forward with public testimony. If you wish to speak on this matter, um please uh
indicate your interest by raising your hand on um Zoom or dialing star 9 from your phone. >> First up, we have Pati Patricia Flity. Um your two minutes start now. >> Thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Um
my name is Patricia Flareity. I'm a resident of Mission Hill. I'm the executive director of Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services and I'm a long-term task force member of the Wentworth Community Task Force and we would like to go on record in strong support of this amendment. Um it is
bringing us um larger dorm, more beds earlier in the master plan and a dorm that's core to the central um piece of the campus which is important replacing a parking lot and we strongly support this change. >> Thank you. Thank you so much, Patricia.
Next up, we have um Lily Swedman. Your two minutes start now. >> Hello, Lily Swederman here again on behalf of councelor Durkin. Uh the council is supportive of Wentworth's IMP. This amendment demonstrates Wentworth's continued commitment to
responsibly managing campus growth and advancing its academic mission while responding to the evolving needs of students in the surrounding communities as Pat outlined as well. Um so, thank you for your time. It seems that that is all of our public comment at the moment.
>> Okay. Thank you. Big Mission Hill morning. Uh we will we'll close out public testimony uh and move to um our business session um with uh discussion um from members of the commission.
I I would just like to thank the proponent for a very thorough and clear um presentation. Um it's it's it's uh we we just heard this this IMP a couple years ago or 18 months ago and to see
the change and how much um I think in a positive way really coming up with a more optimal plan was very very helpful but also the materials were excellent in conveying the message. So, thank you. >> Wonderful. Any other comments or um
perhaps motions for members of the commission? >> I would make a motion, Mr. Chair, that we approve the first amendment to the Wentworth Institute of Technology 2024 2034 institutional master plan. >> Second the motion. >> Second.
>> And a second. We'll now move forward with a roll call vote. Miss H. >> Yes. Miss Morawa. >> Yes. >> Miss Miller. >> Yes. >> Mr. Maher. >> Do we still have Mr. Maher? >> Mr. Leth?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Royo? >> I vote yes. >> Mr. McNeel? >> Yes. >> Mr. Woods? >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. um that still represents a needed quorum of our body to take a vote and a unanimous vote in support.
The motion carries. Thank you very much to the proponent team. >> Sorry about that, Michael. I got the I got the boot somehow. I don't know what happened. >> All right, we just are take are finishing up our roll call vote. Do you have a vote on this matter, Mr. Maher? >> Yes.
>> Okay. Uh then that remains unanimous support in favor of the motion. Thank you to the proponent team and the planning department. >> Thank you. That is all for this morning's meeting. Um Jeff Ortara, our next meeting date,
>> April 15th, >> tax day. Okay, >> 15. You got it. >> See everyone on April 15th. Thank you for your your time this morning. >> Bye everybody. >> Thank you. Bye bye.