Developer Pitches 500 Units, Housing For Boston Children's Hospital Families In The Fenway

An affiliate of a British student housing builder has formally unveiled its plans to develop more than 500 housing units on Beacon Street, including 53 that will be used to provide accommodations for families of patients at neighboring Boston Children’s Hospital.

Scape Beacon, a Boston-based affiliate of the U.K. private dormitory developer Scape, filed an Expanded Project Notification earlier this month with the Boston Planning & Development Agency for a 280K SF project built atop 118K SF of underground parking. The Boston Business Journal first reported the project.

The 15-story project, which would replace a surface parking lot, is located in Boston’s Audubon Circle neighborhood and borders the Fenway, Kenmore and LMA, communities where affordable housing is scarce.

“The project offers a unique opportunity to address a local housing challenge — a shortage of workforce and family housing which will soon be exacerbated, led by the wave of approved commercial and lab/life science development,” Scape's application says.

Scape entered the U.S. market in 2018 with plans to build $1B in privately owned student housing. It changed strategy last year after community groups opposed its plans to build student housing in a scaled-up, $1B project. Now, 222K SF of the project will be devoted to multifamily and more than 26K SF will be devoted to housing families of long-term patients at the hospital.

Scape's new proposal features landscaped improvements including a 5K SF public plaza fronting Beacon Street. The developer also plans to build a two-way cycle track along Maitland Street along with new sidewalks, street lights, trees and park benches. The project is being designed by Gensler and British firm Ab Rogers Design.