By Dan Murphy
The city’s Planning Department convened a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12, to discuss plans for the redevelopment of the West End Branch Library, including its affordable housing component.
A rendering of the redeveloped West End Branch Library, with affordable housing above.
Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. (POAH), a national nonprofit committed to creating and sustaining affordable housing which also manages the Blackstone Apartments on Blossom Street, together with the Boston-based private equity firm, Caste Capital, LLC, have been designated to transform the existing library at 151 Cambridge St., – a building built in the late 1960s – into a modern library branch below 119 units of affordable housing.
The 165-foor building would comprise a two-story library, including 19,000 square feet of community space, with 12 floors of residential above. Although the project makes no provisions for vehicle parking, it has 160 bicycle parking spaces, including 128 long-term and 32 short-term bike spots.
The residential unit mix will include 12 studios, 29 one-bedrooms, 70 two-bedrooms, and eight three-bedrooms. Forty apartments will be affordable to households earning up to 30 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) while the other 79 apartments will be designated for households earning up to 80 percent of AMI, according to the city.
Construction is scheduled to get underway at the end of 2026 and take two years to finish, with completion expected in the first quarter of ’29, said Kristel Salinas, project manager for POAH, who added that the project team is now working to secure all financing for the project to coincide with this timeline.
One eagerly anticipated community benefit from the project will be the creation of a publicly accessible pedestrian plaza between the renovated library and the adjacent Otis House at 141 Cambridge St.
Gigi Saltonstall, a principal at Waltham-based G2 Collaborative, said the project team is working together with Historic New England, which is based at Otis House, on future plans for programming the plaza.
A strong supporter of the project since its inception, Rep. Jay Livingstone recalled how the first seeds were planted when three longtime neighborhood residents, John Achatz, Susanne Besser, and Karen Cord Taylor, first came to him about a decade ago and broached the idea of creating affordable housing on the library site.
(Achatz is the former chair of the Beacon Hill Civic Association [BHCA], while Taylor is the founding publisher emeritus of this publication. Besser served as the former editor of this publication, as well as former chair of the Civic Association, among myriad other roles in neighborhood organizations.)
At last week’s meeting, Achatz commended the project team on how much progress they’ve made to date, but he expressed deep concern that like almost “every open space on Cambridge Street,” this site would become a place for homeless individuals to congregate, sleep, and sometimes use drugs.
“This is an area, which for whatever reason, has been very attractive to homeless people and drug users,” said Achatz. “Fencing is clearly the only way that will prevent undesirable uses of that area.”
Salinas responded the project team is well aware of individuals loitering in the area, and that they have already had internal and external conversations with library staff on this matter.
“We don’t think this it’s a quick fix and think it will take some time,” said Meena Jacob, POAH’s vice president for real estate development. She added that the team is open to suggestions on how to best address the problem.
Patricia Tully, executive director of the BHCA, asked if any provisions are being made for an interim library in the neighborhood when the branch library is closed for renovations.
The Boston Public Library project team responded that prior to the start of construction, it would be “confirming partnerships with local organizations and businesses to provide access to services,” and that the BPL’s Community Learning Department is also working with the branch staff to find alternate spaces for computer classes, Conversation Circles, ESL classes, and workforce preparedness workshops.
The BPL is also exploring the possibility of providing unstaffed book lockers where neighbors can pick up library materials during the branch library’s closure, but that idea is still in the exploratory phase due to the expected high cost, among other factors.
Following what was the first meeting in the city’s Article 80 design-review process for the project, Colin Zick, president of the BHCA board, wrote in a statement: “The Beacon Hill Civic Association has been supportive of this project from the beginning; indeed, it was former leaders of the Beacon Hill Civic Association who came up with this idea and pushed for it until the city finally got behind it.
“There was an excellent initial process with the city’s Housing Department led by Joe Backer, which encouraged public input received and incorporated it. Given that, it was a real surprise when no notice was made except a modest advertisement in a local newspaper which happened to be picked up by BHCA’s executive director [Tully].
“It was an even greater surprise and a huge disappointment when only nine days were allowed for public comment after the public meeting. The Planning Department has indicated it will be receptive to comments even after that time, and we hope that is true. There are many things to recommend this project, although there are certainly issues that look like they could benefit from further refinement,” added Zick.
The city’s public comment period for this project is open through tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 21. Visit the Planning Department’s project page at http://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/west-end-library to submit a comment, or for more information on the project.