A plan to convert a vacant Brookline office building into four luxury condominiums has raised concerns among local housing advocates who want the project turned into smaller, affordable housing.
The building, at 1093 Beacon Street, had contained offices for decades, but the pandemic lessened the need for office space. This pushed the owners, Lloyd Rosenthal and Mark Blotner, to propose converting the space into 18 apartments – mostly studios or one-bedrooms around 500 to 600 square feet.
After their plan fell through, they sold the building to Matt Ramey of Concept Properties for $6.2 million in 2024. Concept then proposed turning the building into four luxury condos.
Each condo would fill an entire floor, spanning 1,800 to 2,600 square feet, and include three bedrooms, four bathrooms and a private elevator, architectural plans show. The basement garage would contain a turntable that directs automobiles into parking spaces and a lift to bring cars down from street level.
The Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved this project in December. The developer now needs to submit final floor and landscape plans in order to get a building permit. Ramey did not return a reporter’s calls.
Housing advocates told Brookline.News they prefer the previous plan, saying it would have improved affordable housing in Brookline.
From empty to occupied?
The building, which sits at the corner of Hawes Street, was originally intended for residential use, according to the developer’s attorney, Bob Allen. At the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in December, Allen said the 13 vacant commercial units in 1093 Beacon go against the zoning laws of the multi-family district in which it is located.
The project will contribute to the Brookline Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Allen told the board. A zoning by-law requires developers either include on-site affordable housing, or pay cash into the fund.
The historic exterior of 1093 Beacon St. will be preserved, Allen said.
“This is a great use of a building that’s been really sitting fairly empty for the last five years,” Allen said in the meeting.
Allen did not return a reporter’s phone calls to discuss the project. A paralegal at his firm told Brookline.News he was occupied and could not be reached.
Is luxury housing the best use?
Local officials and advocates argue there are better uses of the building.
Steve Heikin, chair of the Brookline Planning Board and a member of the Brookline Housing Advisory Board, estimated that each condo will sell for $3 million at a time when affordable housing is desperately needed.
“The Planning Board wants to see developers provide units that are not super luxury, large, expensive condominiums. We’re getting plenty of those,” said Heikin, a retired architect. “That’s what eventually happened with this particular building.”
Heikin said the Planning Board was in favor of the previous plan to turn the building into 18 small apartments — save for one aspect.
A proposed 60-foot accessibility ramp on the Hawes Street side of the building had its entrance at the back of the building. Heikin said the Planning Board thought this was not in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“We basically said, ‘If you can find a better solution for handicapped access, we’d like to see that,’” Heikin said. “In the end, that project was dropped.”
As it stands, 1093 Beacon is also not ADA compliant, although there are plans to install a lift with access to the basement on the Hawes Street side of the building.
“This went from a project that was going to provide a sizable number of small units to four super luxury units,” Heikin said. “They’re clearly not going to have an affordable unit in the building.”
Community leaders respond
Although the December meeting did not include public testimony, Brookline residents have opinions about the project.
Jonathan Klein, a board member of the pro-housing group Brookline for Everyone, said he opposes the project and preferred the original plan.
“I think housing is really critical for people’s well-being — having a decent, safe place to live,” Klein said. “We are dismayed that housing costs are so high and Brookline is becoming so exclusive, and we think that that’s a problem, both of supply and demand.”
Klein said he is “not enthusiastic about this project at all.”
“I don’t know why it was not developed when there was a proposal to do a much larger number of smaller units, which would have been much better,” Klein said.
Randolph Meiklejohn, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said deciding whether to approve a project comes down to a “question of compliance” with zoning by-laws.
“You could have a two-family house, take the whole place and turn it into one housing unit. And if that’s allowed by the zoning by-law, then you can do it,” Meiklejohn said. “For me, as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, I don’t have an opinion about whether that’s a good thing or bad thing.”
Elizabeth Kane Tate, a communications professional, was one of 13 Brookline residents who wrote a letter of support for the current project.
“The reality is that housing inventory in Brookline remains tight, and opportunities to add homes without dramatically changing the look and feel of the street are worth supporting,” Tate wrote. “Converting a mostly vacant commercial building into residential use is a sensible step in that direction.”
Heikin said that one day he’ll decide that he doesn’t want to climb stairs and shovel snow anymore. He said he might look for something comparable to his current four-bedroom home.
“If I sold my house — and still it’s worth a fair amount of money — I would not get as much money for this Victorian house as it would cost me to buy one of these units,” Heikin said.
This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.