Proposed Chestnut Hill condo building faces a steep road to approval
The proposed building runs afoul of preservation and zoning regulations, as neighborhood groups eye it skeptically.
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A new condo building proposed for Chestnut Hill will have to overcome a tangle of zoning and preservation challenges if it is to ever break ground.
The 14-unit building for “active seniors” proposed for 8226 Germantown Ave. must past muster with the Historical Commission because it calls for the renovation and incorporation of the 18th-century Detweiler House into the larger project.
The proposal also fails to comply with the existing zoning, which allows only single-family homes and restricts the height below the proposed five stories. A cafe that the developer, Vich Properties, wants to include would also violate the existing zoning.
And neighborhood groups have expressed concerns about the project.
“We’re concerned that the development could destroy what remains of the garden context in which the Detweiler House has survived for 250 years,” said Laura Lucas, president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, at a Tuesday meeting of a Historical Commission subcommittee.
But it is early days for the Vich Properties proposal. The developer approached neighborhood groups and the city’s Historical Commission to get feedback on the design before applying for permits. In addition to the cafe proposal, the project would provide one-for-one parking for residents because the developer anticipates that senior citizens will have cars.
The developer’s architect, Gustavo Zamir Garcia, said they are already planning to scale down the size of the project.
“We’re looking to revise the design to reduce the height to 38 feet [from over 51 feet], and that will reduce the scale of the massing as well,” said Garcia, partner with M Architects. “It will significantly reduce the overall height of the structure.”
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Historical Commission’s Architectural Committee, the developer sought only approval of the concept — not a recommendation for a final approval. But they did not get even that preliminary sign off.
Some advocates also noted that the property could yield archaeological treasures, given that the land around the Detweiler House where the condo building would be slotted in has not been developed in 250 years.
“The Historical Commission is charged to protect both above- and below-ground historic resources,” said Lori Salganicoff, executive director of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy. “As to whether there is anything there, I hope that we can find out more about that.”