Housing proposed for Park Square
Arlington Street site would include retail and 128 apartments
Developer Dean Stratouly is moving forward with a plan to transform the former Boston Renaissance Charter School on Arlington Street in Boston’s Park Square into an apartment and retail complex.
Stratouly, principal of the Congress Group, wants to build 128 apartments at 100 Arlington St. and use part of the ground floor for retail shops. He outlined his plans in a filing released yesterday by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
“This project will help to link the Back Bay and Theatre District and represents an important investment which is needed to support and encourage the continued renewal of the Stuart Street corridor,’’ Stratouly wrote in the filing.
Located across from the Park Plaza Hotel, the 13-story building was once used by the University of Massachusetts as a downtown campus. Stratouly purchased it from the Renaissance School for about $40 million in August 2008 when the school relocated to Hyde Park. Stratouly, who previously developed the office tower at 33 Arch St. and several other properties in Boston, still needs approval from the BRA before he can begin construction.
Some residents in the adjacent Bay Village neighborhood are concerned the new apartments would worsen a parking shortage in the area. “It will double the numbers of parkers in the neighborhood, and it’s bad already,’’ said resident Mark Slater.
State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, whose district includes Bay Village, said residents will probably ask Boston officials to not allow tenants of 100 Arlington to get city parking stickers for neighborhood streets. That would force any residents of the building with cars to park in the 200 spaces that Stratouly says he will provide for them at the garage at the nearby Radisson Hotel Boston on Stuart Street.
The redevelopment of the 100 Arlington property will not result in significant changes to the building’s exterior, although Stratouly is planning to replace the roof and windows, repair the facade, and rebuild sidewalks. The refurbished building will offer market-rate units ranging from 600-square-foot studios to 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom apartments. Estimated prices of the units are not yet available.
State Representative Martha Walz, who represents the Back Bay, welcomed the addition of housing in the neighborhood.
“It’s a sign of the city’s strength when more and more people want to live downtown,’’ Walz said. “We know there is a shortage of family-sized apartments, so if this development can accommodate more families, that is a real positive.’’
The city review process is expected to take several months. Stratouly has not indicated when he wants to start construction.
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com. 
