Condo residents won't oppose Suffolk dorm
School agrees to limit its future expansion of housing in the area
A major obstacle to Suffolk University's plan to put a 274-bed dormitory in the Ladder District near Downtown Crossing fell yesterday when its future neighbors at Millennium Place dropped their opposition.
To gain support from the owners of the luxury residential towers on the edge of Chinatown, Suffolk University signed a detailed agreement that will limit its future expansion of student housing.
Negotiations with Millennium Place "resulted in making the project better for both Suffolk University and the surrounding community," John A. Nucci, vice president for government and community affairs at Suffolk University, said yesterday.
Suffolk University, which was rebuffed by City Hall in its attempt to build a 550-bed dormitory on Beacon Hill, instead purchased a condominium project that was under way at 10 West St., a block up Washington Street from Avery Street, where Millennium Place is located.
The sale closed last week. The price was $32 million.
Millennium has three residential towers, and the agreement was reached with associations for each building. The Ritz-Carlton Boston Common hotel also is located at Millennium Place.
The agreement includes a promise by the university not to develop more student housing in the areas -- with the exception of the Modern Theatre site, which is adjacent to 10 West St.
That decaying property, owned by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, is expected to be redeveloped. Suffolk could compete for the right to put a dorm there, which under the agreement with Millennium would have a maximum of 200 beds.
The BRA requested proposals for the Modern site on Friday; they are due Aug. 30.
In addition, the agreement requires:
A 24-hour Suffolk University police presence and security cameras at the new dorm, plus privately paid Boston police details.
Rental of the ground floor as retail space.
A university contribution to a Boston Common security fund.
Efforts to limit disruptions during student arrival and departure periods.
About half of the beds will be in units with kitchens, the other half in suites of two or three bedrooms with common living areas, whose residents will take their meals at a university dining hall at 150 Tremont St.
The provisions of the agreement with Millennium Place are expected to be incorporated in a cooperation agreement with a neighborhood advisory subcommittee and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Nucci said the first-floor space of 10 West St. probably will be occupied by a high-quality restaurant. Another small retail space could house a dry cleaner or grocery store.
Suffolk University hopes to open the building in September, but it will be completed in January at the latest, Nucci said. Suffolk Construction Co. has been hired to build the dorm in an existing eight-story, 90,000-square-foot former office building.
Suffolk University has a purchase-and-sale agreement with the state to buy the former Metropolitan District Commission headquarters building on Beacon Hill, where it had proposed a larger dorm. Mayor Thomas M. Menino rejected that idea, after initially supporting it, because of opposition from Beacon Hill residents who were fearful of rowdy student behavior.
Nucci said he did not know what the university's plan is for that building.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com. 
