New look for proposed senior housing complex

The senior housing development proposed for 300 Wellesley St. has a new architect and a new name: The Reserve Weston.

CBT Architects, the Boston firm recently engaged by HYM Investment Group of Boston, presented a new plan to the Planning Board last week for the complex proposed for 30 acres of land at Regis College. The new approach, they said, takes into greater account resident and Planning Board concerns about density, building height and environmental impact among other issues.

Developing the parcel requires approval of a zoning bylaw amendment at Town Meeting and special permit approval.

Based on feedback from the Board and the community, Douglas Manz of HYM said the company had “taken a step back” and had engaged the new architecture firm to approach the project with “a fresh set of eyes.”

Daniel Gelormini, associate principal of CBT Architects, said the new proposal was designed to maintain the neighborhood’s residential scale. Instead of one large building, CBT is proposing two three-story buildings, one with 73 units for assisted living and memory care, and a 112-unit independent living building. The two would be connected by a covered loggia. There would also be 30 townhomes for residents over age 55, for a total of 215 units on the site.

The new proposal’s shorter buildings are designed to integrate into the site’s sloping landscape, rather than the four-story structure with substantial retaining walls that was previously proposed, Gelormini said.

Gelormini said the new building configuration is further away from the nearest abutter than in the previous plan, and is designed to employ more effectively the natural landscape as a buffer.

“We’ve pulled the building further away from the Colonial Way neighborhood, understanding the sensitivity to those residences, and pulled it closer to Wellesley Street, while still maintaining the 100-foot minimum setback, and being able to maintain the existing trees along Wellesley Street,” he said.

The firm determined shadows from the buildings will fall within the existing tree line.

While the Planning Board expressed appreciation for the redesign and for breaking up the previously proposed structure into two smaller buildings, concerns remained about proximity to wetlands, traffic, parking, water management and erosion control.

Leslie Glynn said, “I think the moves you made are very intelligent, and I think they do definitely help the project, but I, along with my fellow members, have some questions.” She asked about making the townhouses less linear and repetitive, “less of a soldier’s course.” She also expressed concern about the design for the natural buffer and access for the fire department.

The conversation also concerned the number of affordable housing units on site. The proposal calls for 10% percent of the units on site to be affordable. Those would be limited to independent living, assisted living and the townhouses as memory care units do not count toward a town’s affordable housing inventory, Gelormini said.

Planning Board member Shawn Lanier said “We certainly want developers and operators to be able to do well on the development and get a return on their investment but I think having 18 affordable units of this development…we were hoping for more.”

Traffic studies will be conducted the second week of September, once schools are back in session.

The conversation will continue at the next public hearing on July 1.

In other business

The Planning Board indicated that the site plan for The Woods restaurant at the Josiah Smith Tavern has met all conditions except for potential changes to parking. New drawings are currently being reviewed by the Permanent Building Committee and Select Board. Any changes will come back to the Planning Board for review.

Planning Board Chair Alex Selvig said, “Congrats everybody, one step closer.”