We’ve submitted a comment letter in support of a proposed affordable housing project at 4259-4267 Washington Street, the old Bank of America location just off the square. As detailed below, it’s great to see the Squares and Streets rezoning effort pay off so quickly with a higher density, pedestrian-oriented development, and look forward to welcoming new residents to our neighborhood.
3 November 2025
BY ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY (camille.plattdecosta@boston.gov)
Camille Platt-DeCosta, Project Manager
Boston Planning Department
Boston City Hall, Ninth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02201
RE: Comment and Support Letter
Small Project Review Filing – 4259-4267 Washington Street, Roslindale, MA
Dear Ms. Platt:
Please accept the following comments on behalf of WalkUP Roslindale with respect to B’nai B’rith Housing’s (BBH’s) proposed 41-unit all affordable senior rental residential development located on 4259-4267 Washington Street in Roslindale Square (the “Proposed Project”).
It is truly difficult to decide which aspect of the Proposed Project of which we are most supportive and/or about which we are most excited (more on that below), but we would be remiss if we didn’t pause at the start of this letter to note how satisfying it is to see how well the Proposed Project, which we believe is the first to be proposed in Roslindale Square following the Squares + Streets-based rezoning that occurred earlier this year, fits into and makes the center of our neighborhood a better and more welcoming place. We wish here to repeat our thanks to City elected officials and staff, especially Mayor Wu, Councilor Pepen, Planning Director Shen, and key planning staffers Eileen Michaud and Abdul-Razak Zachariah, as well as the Boston Redevelopment Authority board and the Boston Zoning Commission. We also thank our neighbors in Roslindale who participated in the small area planning process that led to the rezoning. This kind of an effort – rezoning to increase the potential for housing and development to arrive at a more welcoming community – was not something that had been seen in our city for some time, if ever, and we applaud the energy, vision, and patience that we saw demonstrated day-in and day-out throughout the whole process.
All of which brings us to the Proposed Project, which has to be seen as an outstanding example of exactly the kind of new redevelopment we were all hoping would follow in the rezoning’s wake. Accordingly, we strongly support the Proposed Project for several reasons, as follows:
- The Proposed Project provides significant affordability, with all 41 of its new homes reserved for seniors (age 55+) earning at or below 60% of area median income. With the Boston metropolitan region in the throes of an ongoing, long-standing housing affordability emergency, this kind of all-affordable development is desperately needed and deeply appreciated.
- The Proposed Project would be constructed on a portion of the former Bank of America site that has for many years been used as a surface parking lot. For that whole period, this was a desperately adverse underutilization of valuable land in the very heart of our neighborhood.
- No off-street parking is included in the Proposed Project. The ability to rely on the locational advantages of this and similar sites in Roslindale Square is central to the Squares + Streets rezoning effort’s elimination of off-street parking minimums. We have long advocated for giving priority to space for people to live in instead of space to store motor vehicles. It is great to see BBH taking full advantage of the new zoning in this regard.
- Finally, we are pleased to see BBH taking a phased approach to redevelopment of the overall Bank of American assemblage, starting with this initial phase, then, we fully expect, moving the much-loved neighborhood thrift shop over from its current location on Corinth Street to the ground floor retail space thereby created, and then proceeding with the redevelopment of the former branch and thrift shop building. This is the kind of careful planning and care for the square’s critically valuable retail ecosystem that we want to see every landowner and developer demonstrate.
In closing, we wish to reiterate our strong support for the Proposed Project and urge the Planning Department to move with urgency to grant small project review approval and expedite the Proposed Project overall as part of the Mayor’s Executive Order promoting affordable housing throughout the city.
Sincerely yours,
WalkUP Roslindale Board of Directors
About WalkUP Roslindale
WalkUP Roslindale, which takes its name from the international movement to foster “Walkable Urban Places,” is a collaborative group of residents and business owners dedicated to making Roslindale the most walkable neighborhood in Boston. We advocate for more housing of all types and at all levels of affordability as well as improvements to our public and private built environment that strengthen walking, cycling, transit, and other forms of active mobility as means toward better personal and public health, safety, social capital, economic development, and environmental sustainability. We are led by a board of directors of about just over twenty individuals and have over 800 additional supporters. More information about WalkUP Roslindale and our initiatives can be found at www.walkuproslindale.org.
Copy (by email) to:
Michelle Wu, Mayor (mayor@boston.gov)
Enrique Pepén, City Councilor, District 5 (enrique.pepen@boston.gov)
Josh McCorkle, ONS Representative, Roslindale (josh.mccorkle@boston.gov)