On Tuesday, the Boston Planning Department held a virtual meeting regarding a resubmitted project application for 1702 Hyde Park Ave. If it goes through, it would greatly expand on a design already approved by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) Board in 2023.

This proposed increase in height and density is emblematic of City Hall’s transit-oriented development goals for the industrial stretch of Hyde Park Avenue leading to Wolcott Square. The area runs between several rail lines (including the Northeast Corridor) and is walking distance from the Readville commuter station, while also abutting a 24-hour train maintenance yard.

Since December of 2020, four Hyde Park Avenue developments (1690-1700, 1702, 1717-1725, and 1740) totaling 480 units have been approved by the BPDA within about a block of the Father Hart Bridge, which spans the commuter and Amtrak lines and is a major traffic bottleneck.

Adding to that total the nearly complete 247 units of 36-40 Sprague St. – located adjacent to the tracks beside the nearby Sprague Street Bridge – that number climbs to 727. Taking the 24 additional units currently under proposal for 1702 Hyde Park Ave., the total increases to 751.

Residential sections of Readville fan out on both sides of this area and – as these applications have made their way through the Planning Department’s community process – there have been varying, but ever-present levels of neighborhood input regarding the impact of these changes.

There has also been ongoing frustration, particularly in the case of 1717-1725 Hyde Park Ave.

That project was originally approved for 273 units by the BPDA in December of 2020, after much pushback. Of those, 151 were to have been condominiums – an element of the proposal that the community had been in favor of. However, in July of 2023, the BPDA approved a project change switching the condos over to rental units “because of marketing and financing challenges impeding implementing the homeownership component,” as was stated in the filed notice of change. This was approved with much less required community input and – immediately after that project change had been cleared – the property and its updated building rights were put up for bankruptcy auction and eventually sold to another developer.

In the case of 1702 Hyde Park Ave., its application was originally filed with the BPDA in December of 2021 and approved in August of 2023 for a four-story, 44-unit condominium building with one 4,000 square-foot ground-floor commercial space and 38 garage spots. At both of its community meetings, there was active engagement and the proposal was met with some wariness, but not the outright opposition that its neighbor across the street had elicited.

The next month, an application for 1690-1700 Hyde Park Ave. – 1702’s next-door neighbor to the north – was filed for a six-story building with 115 units. It was approved in December 2024.

This was followed, in March of 2025, with a letter of intent filed with the Planning Department to increase the size of 1702 Hyde Park Ave. to six stories and 68 units, while reducing the commercial space to 2,600 sq. ft. and the number of garage spaces to 34. This increase in scale required the formation of an impact advisory group (IAG) made up of local residents.

Then, in June of 2025, an application was filed for a five-story, 42-unit building at 1740 Hyde Park Ave. – 1702’s next-door neighbor to the south. That was approved last September.

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This January, a notice of project change for 1702 Hyde Park Ave. was filed, proposing that the height of the reconfigured building be seven stories – thus bringing it more in line with the scale of its two BPDA-approved next-door neighbors.

All of the above made what unfolded – or did not unfold – at Tuesday’s meeting very unusual.

The business portion of it ran just 25 minutes, and there were only around 20 listed attendees – roughly half of whom were affiliated with the development team, City Hall, or other entities.

Most surprisingly – given the fact that it was also advertised as a joint IAG meeting – there were only two comments during its Q&A portion, both of which were perfunctory statements of approval/outreach made by business representatives for the Carpenters Union and the IBEW.

As this played out, Senior Project Manager Stephen Harvey raised his concern that there might be technical issues accessing the meeting – noting, after the carpenters rep had finished speaking, that he had been trying to assist people who had been having difficulties connecting via phone.

After the IBEW business rep had spoken – and seeing no other virtual hands raised – Harvey went into more detail regarding this matter. “I will say that I’ve been talking with a member of the community over the phone, and I’ve tried to log in myself using the information that is provided on the website, and – for whatever reason – it’s saying that the ID is… doesn’t identify. So I have to say that’s very concerning because I’ve never had issues with logging onto these meetings – especially since there are other people on the line that haven’t been able to log in.”

Seeing no other hands raised, Harvey ultimately called the meeting to a close, adding that he would “discuss with the development team what the appropriate next steps are.”

As it stands now, the comment period for 1702 Hyde Park Ave. will end on Friday, March 13. To submit comments, visit its project page – https://tinyurl.com/34wv3p3h – scroll to the bottom and follow the instructions. Comments may also be submitted to Stephen Harvey by emailing him at Stephen.J.Harvey@Boston.gov.