Garden Garage Tower Loses Height, Gains Park Space in Latest Tweaks

Rendering by Elkus Manfredi, Courtesy of Equity Residential

Equity Residential has made the latest round of tweaks to its Garden Garage project in a seven-year-long series of design changes and public feedback, losing height while adding additional park space.

The project, first proposed in 2008 and currently under Boston Redevelopment Authority review, would demolish the five-story garage at 35 Lomasney Way in the West End in order to construct a slender residential tower surrounded by park space. Based on suggestions from the city’s impact advisory group, the latest changes to Washington, D.C.-based Equity Residential’s proposal reduce the number of towers from two to one, shorten it from 46 stories to 44, and expand the park space to 2.5 acres.

“This new rental housing will help to address the City’s call for 53,000 new units for those who want to live and walk to work in Boston,” senior vice president Richard Boales said in a release. “We are pleased that the overwhelming majority of residents are enthusiastic about welcoming new families to the West End.”

To alleviate congestion near TD Garden, Equity Residential has agreed to reduce the driveway width on Lomasney Way, connect its 367,000-square-foot, 830-space underground parking garage to the Longfellow garages, and add an entrance before the Nashua Street intersection.

Equity Residential says it’s garnered over 1,100 signatures of support from local residents and community leaders, including members of the managing board of West End Place and the Downtown North Association, owners of the Amy Lowell House, and City Councilors At-Large Michael Flaherty and Stephen Murphy.

Equity Residential purchased the Garden Garage, along with the Charles River Park apartments, in 1999. The BRA’s next public meeting on the project is scheduled for November 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.