http://www.BulletinNewspapers.com/

Bulletin Newspapers and the Norwood Record, 661 Washington Street, Norwood, MA (2025)

11/07/2025

NHS Marching takes 1st place, Finishes season strong
For the full story, go to:
https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwood_record_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf
By Jeff Sullivan

The Norwood High School (NHS) Marching Band took home 1st place in its category at the USBands Massachusetts/Rhode Island Finals in Stoughton over the weekend.

Band Director Steven Conant said it was a great way to finish the competition season. For the A Group 1 category, Norwood finished in first place with a total score of 87.900, beating out Joseph Case High School at 85.500, Shepherd Hill Regional High School at 85.100, Bridgewater-Raynham High School at 84.200, and Auburn Senior High School with 83.100.

Conant said the students were very pleased, and he added the teaching staff was pleasantly surprised.

“We’re the Massachusetts State Champions,” he said. “The kids were thrilled. And I think from a staff standpoint, we were surprised. Many of the bands we had seen in previous competitions, on those days they were better than we were. So we weren’t expecting to win the class, but the kids performed probably beyond their means, meaning better than they have performed during rehearsals or at any point throughout the season.”

Conant amended his earlier statement about the staff being surprised.

“We knew they were capable of doing it, but to have all the performers have their best show on the same day, that’s the trick,” he said.

And adding on top of the challenge, the NHS Band did not have the most ideal conditions to play in. The sun was extremely bright on the crisp fall day of Nov. 1, and beat down blindingly towards the crowd. While most of the band was spared the discomfort, the band conductors had to face into the sun, which couldn’t have made things easier.

But the biggest hurdle for all bands and color guards on Saturday in Stoughton was the wind. The sun was beating down warm rays all day, but most attendees couldn’t feel any warmth, as the intense winds whipping through the stands and blew various detritus this way and that.

“My color guard staff made an executive decision that instead of tossing their flags in the air they were just going to have to hold on to them,” Conant said. “Several groups made that same decision, because at that point it becomes a safety thing, as the wind was not always predictable, it was very variable. If it’s always in one direction you can plan for it, but not if it’s swirling around. So we had the girls in the guard hang on to them during the entire performance.”

Several color guards were seen warming up in other areas of the Stoughton High School Athletic complex and, many times, the flags went flying, so it was probably a good call on Conant’s part.

The songs from NHS were all related to the Wizard of Oz, with selections from the 1939 movie, the Elton John song Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and the more recent Wicked franchise.

The band also earned other accolades during the show, including the Best Music and Best Color Guard for the State Championship.

11/07/2025

German Centre hosts parade
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_ros_bulletin_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf =2
By Jeff Sullivan

The German Centre in West Roxbury hosted hundreds of students from its neighbor, the Saint Teresa of Avila School, on Halloween Day for a parade through most of the senior living facility’s grounds.

Patriots players, super heroes, witches, monsters, Wednesdays, ninjas, vampires, and even one gigantic foot came through wishing ‘Happy Halloween!’ to German Centre residents. The students also kept shouting and chanting ‘six-seven!’ to the confusion of residents, teachers and administrators alike.

German Centre Administrator Sean O’Grady said while this is his first year as president for the parade, he’s dressed up once or twice when he was on staff.

“I did not dress up this year,” he said. “When I was part of the rehab team we would dress up. In the past we had a rehab team and did a fruit theme of us dressing up as oranges, lemons and limes.”

O’Grady said the event is designed to bring generations together and create a sense of community with the neighborhood.

“St. Teresa’s is part of our community, and we’re rich with working with several schools as volunteers; we’re a close-knit group here in West Roxbury and so this has been going on for years,” he said. “This is an inter-generational event where we have the children showing off their costumes and walking around the facility, meeting with residents and it brightens up everyone’s day.”

O’Grady said the German Centre is currently gearing up for its Veterans Day celebration on Nov. 11 at 9:30 a.m., but will also be opening up to the community other celebrations throughout the year.

“We will have a Christmas Tree Lighting where families and children from the community will be able to come in here and see us light up the tree, as well as Christmas festivities,” he said. “We also have volunteers come in from local schools like Catholic Memorial and we have an affiliation with Roxbury Latin where they come in and visit our residents so it’s a great time.”

Activities Director Daffney Guey said they’ve been doing the parade for years now, and said it’s not just the kids who get in on the holiday fun.

“The students are always excited and we’re happy to see everybody dressed in costumes, whether it’s staff or residents,” she said. “We do have residents who get really involved and get dressed up with hats, necklaces and other things.”

11/07/2025

Legacy housing for 294 Hyde Park Ave, little reaction at Planning meeting
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/boston_bulletin_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf
By Richard Heath

The largest housing development in Forest Hills since Woodbourne Apartments, a 67-unit elderly housing building built in 1978 by the Greater Boston CDC, is proposed for the ALCO Auto Parts site at 294 Hyde Park Ave.

A six-story, 48-unit, mixed-income, L-shaped building by ARX Urban development was reviewed in a 36-minute Boston Planning Department Article 80 meeting on Oct. 22.

ARX with JGE architects filed its Article 80 Small Project Review (SPR) application on Sept. 16.
As first reported by The Bulletin on Sept. 18, nothing seems to have changed; the surprise was the lack of community participation in the virtual Article 80 public meeting at which only about eight or nine residents called in, and none showed a street address.

Two called in with enthusiastic support, but one lived in Egleston Square and the other in Hyde Square. A third was Dan Daly representing a labor union who called in offering full support.

Danny Moll of ARX Urban said at the BPDA meeting that they “had thoughtfully listened to every one of you … and you wanted a coherent and attractive building.”

Moll said he had met with the Woodbourne and Forest Hills neighborhood associations, as well as Abundant Housing Massachusetts, a YIMBY, ‘Yes in my backyard’ group.

It was essentially closed circuit; if abutters meetings were held they were not advertised. Jordan Frias from Councilor Weber’s office and Carlos Rios from Rep Montano’s office were also on the call.

Absent from the meeting was Karti Sabramanian; as The Bulletin reported, he circulated an on line petition on Sept. 5 with warm enthusiasm for the ARX plans, especially with the number of affordable units, soliciting signatures of support.

A few days later he sent around on the Listserve (mailing list software) that he had met with the developer and attached elevations of the proposed building.

11/07/2025

Neighborhood Housing in HP, questions and confusion abound
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/hydepark_bulletin_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf =3
By Matthew MacDonald

On Oct. 22, the Boston Planning Department continued its community process in Hyde Park for its Neighborhood Housing initiative. Its goal is to change zoning codes in the city’s residential areas to bring existing single and small multi-family properties into compliance with them, thus eliminating Zoning Board of Appeal approval for minor improvements and upkeep.

Much more controversially, the initiative also aims to make it as-of-right for homeowners in these rezoned areas to add approved accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to their properties, if they meet certain conditions.

It is one of Mayor Michelle Wu’s proposals to overhaul and simplify Boston’s long and complicated zoning code, and to make it easier to increase the city’s housing inventory.

Wu’s other major neighborhood rezoning initiative is Squares + Streets (S+S). While different from Neighborhood Housing, both were officially rolled out in early 2024 and have resulted in recurring confusion between them, and the mistaken blending together of them.

Throughout 2024, the Planning Department held several Neighborhood Housing community update meetings highlighting its zoning analysis for the initiative. It also introduced three types of ADUs being proposed for adoption into neighborhood codes. Directly related to that, near the end of 2024, a guidebook for building the three types of zoning compliant ADUs was released.

At that time, it was also announced that Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and Roslindale would be the first neighborhoods in the city to undergo this rezoning process due to their large lot sizes.

The Oct. 22 meeting was the second held for the three selected neighborhoods (Roslindale’s was on Oct. 15; West Roxbury’s is on Nov. 5). However, with regards to clarifying the initiative to the approximately 25 Hyde Park residents who were in attendance, it did not go well.

Scheduled for 90 minutes, its agenda listed a presentation, Q&A, and discussion, and a cadre of Planning Department zoning specialists – up to Deputy Director of Zoning Reform Kathleen Onufer – were there to present the initiative, answer questions about it, and discuss it.

The presentation – which ran nearly 45 minutes and featured three speakers – appeared to confuse attendees, and Senior Planner Will Cohen frequently got unnecessarily bogged down in technical details and jargon, all of which was apparently not helped by his tendency to speak quickly. Key points were touched on, but they were easy to miss when taken with everything else.

11/07/2025

Trader Joe’s finally debuts
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_ros_bulletin_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf =5
By Ariane Komyati

After what may have felt like a lifetime of waiting, the long-anticipated Trader Joe’s (TJ) has opened its doors on Centre Street in West Roxbury.

On Oct. 30, TJ (located at the former Walgreens on 1999 Centre St.) held a brief ribbon cutting ceremony, then opened for business at 9 a.m.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, dozens of community members lined up outside the building before it opened. Traffic in the parking lot quickly backed up. By 8:45 a.m., the line stretched across the parking lot towards Citizens Bank. “Digital Nomad” Ken Gagne was the first in line, arriving before 8 a.m.

“This is our fourth official Trader Joe’s store in Boston, and our twenty-fifth Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts, so we’re really excited to be here,” TJ’s Regional VP Will Walls said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store hired more than 80 new Crew Members (staff) from neighboring communities and received additional staff transfers from nearby Trader Joe’s locations.

Store Captain (manager) Claire Sommers and the West Roxbury Trader Joe’s crew members welcomed the community with free mini TJ tote bags. The totes were orange in honor of Halloween. Shoppers eagerly shuffled into the new store, marveling at the interior. A few patrons live-streamed their shopping experience. The words “West Roxbury” are featured at the entrance, along with a rendering of the nearby West Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library. Inside the store, local landmarks and street names are painted on the walls, including Centre Street, Bellevue, Fontaine’s neon chicken Topsy, the old water tower on Bellevue Hill, and the Boston skyline. Multiple ward maps of WR from the late 1800s are framed in the back hallway of the store.

“This is a true neighborhood store,” remarked Sommers. “There have been so many people who have knocked on our windows in the past few weeks. People shook my hand just as I walked outside the store. Everybody has been telling me just how excited they are. Many of them are excited they can walk to this location. The community around here is what makes it a true neighborhood store.”

Sommers is from Canada, but has worked at Trader Joe’s for “quite some time” and has been a captain at other TJ locations in Boston. “The beautiful thing with Trader Joe’s is that all of our employees contribute to the team. When people shop in a Trader Joe’s, they usually comment how every crew member has been so nice and helpful. Because all of our crew members are trained to do everything, customers can ask any one of us for help. Like where to find a specific product they’re looking for,” she explained. All eighty crew members work in customer-facing roles.

The store stated that through the company’s long-standing Neighborhood Shares Program, the West Roxbury Trader Joe’s will donate 100 percent of products that go unsold but remain fit to enjoy to a range of non-profit, community-based organizations, every day of the week. These local organizations include Spoonfuls, Food Rescue US, and Rose’s Bounty. This is especially timely and important, given the potential loss of SNAP benefits moving forward.

11/07/2025

Planning Board approves 20 Vernon parking, hears from Telco owners
For the full story, go to:
https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwood_record_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf
By Jeff Sullivan

The Norwood Planning Board met on Monday and voted unanimously to approve a change to the site plan approval of the proposed 21-unit affordable veteran living project at 20 Vernon St.

The proposal is for 21 units of affordable housing dedicated to homeless veterans. Caritas Communities campaigned for and successfully won approval for $800,000 of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding – https://tinyurl.com/38pkjebu

The plan includes 20 units for veterans coming out of homelessness, with one unit for an onsite manager. The rent for each unit is predicated on what one-third of whatever income each resident is making – if it’s a dollar, for example, the rent would be 33 cents.

Caritas Director of Real Estate Greg Rittchen explained that there are three reasons for the request. The first is that the location of the existing parking spaces doesn’t make much sense and would essentially be inaccessible to cars. The second is that Caritas felt the space could be better utilized as a pocket park and bike rack storage, and the third is that very few, if any, Caritas residents coming out of homelessness have cars to park.

“We’re in process with state funding, and as part of our design/development process, we realized it would be really beneficial and, in our opinion, better for the residents and the site to have more bike parking instead of one parking space, as well as more greenspace in the rear,” he said. “Our residents tend to, almost universally, not have cars and have very low income.”

Planning Board Chair Debbie Holmwood asked Rittchen if they had obtained the rest of the funding to start construction. Rittchen said they are working it out with the state at the moment, but no agreement has been finalized.

“So we don’t have any idea what the start date might be?” Holmwood said.

“In early conversations, I think the start date might be early 2027, potentially even 2026, it just depends what other projects are in line for tax-exempt funding for Mass Development,” Rittchen said.

Kelly Engineering Civil Engineer Brandon Lee said the site will have some minor changes and will reduce the parking from 19 to 18 spaces. He said the pocket park will provide outside space and landscaping, which will reduce the impervious area of the site. He said there will be two bike racks with space for 10 bikes each.

Planning Board Member Ernie Paciorkowski said he was surprised at the size of the pocket park.

“It just struck me, as I was reading this plan, that by getting rid of one parking space, you’re getting to do an awful lot of stuff,” he said. “You’re adding a bike rack, adding greenspace, expanding walkways. It just seems like a lot of benefit for one parking space. You look at a parking space it’s not that large, but you’re gaining a lot.”

11/07/2025

Food Resources in Boston
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/boston_bulletin_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf
By Ariane Komyati

While the federal administration announced on Monday it will partially fund food assistance, it is currently unclear when those benefits will come in, and so community members are still stepping up to help neighbors in need.

More than 140,000 Boston residents, (89,000 households) are affected by the uncertainty of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) freeze. Last week, Mayor Wu announced a partnership with The Boston Foundation and local nonprofits to support families in need of food support, which has raised over $1 million. Wu also announced a citywide outreach campaign to help residents access food and necessities. Boston residents who need help or want to help can visit https://tinyurl.com/4cer4axc or call 311 for more information.

In Hyde Park, Community Growth Co. at 715 River St. has a free food distribution every Thursday at 11 a.m. No ID is required and it is first-come first-serve. Helping Plates, located at 1283 Hyde Park Ave., distributes free bags of food every Sunday at 1 p.m. No ID is required, email [email protected] to learn more. You must be a resident of HP to shop at the Hyde Park Food Pantry. Email [email protected] for more information.

In Roslindale, the Roslindale Congregational Church Food Pantry distributes pre-packed boxes of food to people who reside in Roslindale or Hyde Park. Proof of registration or residence is required, and residents can pick up food once per month. The food distribution takes place on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Visit roscon.org/food-pantry/ to learn more. The Roslindale Food Collective is a mutual aid system that distributes boxes of excess food from supermarkets. The food distribution takes place at the Trinity Church, 1195 Centre St., West Roxbury, every Sunday from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. No ID is required, everyone is welcome. Email [email protected] for further details.

Rose’s Bounty, located at 77 Stratford St. in West Roxbury, is currently not taking any new clients except WR residents. Volunteers distribute food from the curbside. Free food distributions take place on the second Saturday of the month (2-4 p.m.) and the third Friday of the month (11 a.m.-1 p.m.). Veterans only food distribution takes place on Fridays 9-10 a.m. Rose’s Bounty provides free packaged food, produce, eggs, and meat. For additional information, call 857-203-0404 or visit https://tinyurl.com/n7abkm4d

The Allston Brighton Food Pantry is located at the BA Congregational Church on 404 Washington St., Brighton. For further information, call 617-254-4046 or visit abfoodpantry.com.

The YMCA of Greater Boston has a mobile food market that provides free produce and shelf stable items. It is open to the public and all are welcome to fill a grocery bag completely free of cost, no ID or registration required. The location changes weekly — view the schedule at ymcaboston.org/mobilemarket.

11/07/2025

Norwood prepping for 2025 Veterans Day, OPPV offering historical vets calendar
For the full story, go to:
https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwood_record_pages_1_to_12__6nov2025.pdf =12
By Jeff Sullivan

The Town of Norwood has been celebrating Veterans Day since it was first celebrated as Armistice Day in 1919, and this year will be no different.

Norwood Veterans Agent Derek Wennerstrand said this year’s parade will kick off at the Guild Memorial Park near the U.S. Post Office, head down Washington Street and end at the Town Common. Wennerstrand had said previously during a Board of Selectmen’s meeting that the parade was shortened due to security reasons, as errant drivers had found their way onto the parade route in the past.

Wennerstrand said this year’s keynote speaker at the ceremony on the Common will be National Guardsman Aiden Reardon, the name of whom readers may recognize as Austin Reardon’s brother. Wennerstrand said Reardon recently came back from tours of duty in both Iraq and Syria earlier this year, and said his office wants to highlight the service of the younger generations, which may have been overlooked in recent years.

“I figured trying to get a younger guy who has served honorably would be better than recycling the speakers we’ve had in years past,” he said.

The parade itself will see the Colonial Pipers and the Norwood High School Marching Band perform, with scouts, local politicians, Norwood Police and Fire honor guards and residents all marching. Wennerstrand said all veterans are invited to march in the parade. However, he said unfortunately the Colonial Boys Band could not commit to this year’s parade, as not enough members are currently available.

The day will start with a Veterans’ Mass at St. Catherine’s of Siena Church at 8 a.m., followed by staging of the parade at 10 a.m. at Aaron Guild Park. At 10:30 a.m., the parade steps off, and at 10:45 a.m. ceremonies and observances at the Common commence. At 11 a.m., there will be a pause for bells and a moment of silence, with the conclusion set for 11:15 a.m.

In other Veterans Day news, the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers (OPPV) will be hosting an informational session from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. that same day to educate residents on the persons buried there, with a special focus on the Revolutionary War veterans buried at the site.

11/02/2025

Candidates gather at Honan in Allston
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/boston_bulletin_pagesx_1_to_12___30oct2025.pdf
By Jeff Sullivan

Candidates for both District 9 and the At-Large seats came to the Honan Allston Library last Wednesday for a meet-and-greet session with residents.

The night started with informal conversations ranging over the community room in the library, which then turned into a presentation format for candidates to introduce themselves and speak about their platforms for the community.

District 9 City Councilor Liz Breadon and Challenger Pilar Ortiz both discussed their visions for the neighborhood, with Breadon focusing on her accomplishments and Ortiz focusing on her experience in city government and how to break down the workings of said government for residents to better understand and take advantage of.

Ortiz went through the minutia, asking residents if they were aware of the city’s 72 different departments or if they had gone through the annual budget book. Not many had done both.

“But doing that homework is what I’m all about, I never get into anything without doing the work,” she said. “I got the opportunity to work with every single city department in my three-and-a-half years at City Hall.”

Five incumbent councilors spoke before her and reviewed their accomplishments. But Ortiz pointed out that nothing happens in a vacuum.

“They’re all up here saying, ‘I did this, I did that,’ but no city councilor here tonight actually did any of those things on their own,” she said. “They’re doing it in partnership with the city. So when they say, ‘I did X,’ they’re doing it in partnership with a city department.”

Ortiz pointed to her work on filling department vacancies, which she said was being, at the very least, ignored when she got there.

“There were so many vacancies and yet hundreds of resumes were still not reviewed,” she said. “How do we support our city departments if we don’t give them the quality of workers they’re looking for? I went in, I go ‘Hey, let’s figure this out.’ I went in to every single department, and put together something that made sense for them.”

Breadon listed her various accomplishments, touting her work on bringing back practice spaces with IQHQ’s 155 N. Beacon St. project after it bought, and started the redevelopment process for the Sound Museum (though she pointed out at first, Amazon wanted to put in a distribution center there that she and the city were successfully able stop). She said development was a big part of her civic life and at one point had a full-time office person dedicated to reviewing local development.

11/02/2025

FLN suit against BEH moves forward, lease easements at issue
For the full story, go to:
https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/norwood_record_pages_1_to_12__30oct2025.pdf
By Matthew MacDonald

The Norwood Airport Commission (NAC) gathered on Wednesday, Oct. 22 for its regular monthly business meeting. It ran about five minutes, featured no appointments, and had only three items of new business, two of which were the annual renewals of the snow contracts.

However, the third item – the three-year lease extension of the West Apron and the DC-3 Ramp by Boston Executive Helicopters (BEH) – was eventful for its un-eventfulness.

“Chris, anything on that? You good?” Chairman Michael Sheehan asked BEH President Chris Donovan – one of the three meeting attendees – when the agenda item was announced. Receiving a thumbs up from Donovan, the motion was unanimously approved.

It took less than 45 seconds, and there was no hint that the leases on those two pieces of Airport land had been key components of the federal lawsuit filed by BEH against the NAC and the Town – and would eventually become part of their July 2019 settlement agreement.

A casual observer would also have had no way of knowing that the rights to those two parcels are still very much in dispute, as BEH and FlightLevel Norwood (FLN) – the other fixed base operator (FBO) at the Airport – continue to battle it out in Norfolk Superior Court.

At the center of BEH’s settlement with the Town was its application for a FBO permit – the issuance of which grants the holder the right to sell fuel, rent out apron space, and be a multi-service Airport provider. For BEH to have FBO success, leasing the West Apron and the DC-3 Ramp were essential because that business requires significant aeronautical space.

Those parcels became sticking points in the settlement, and the case went back to court; BEH’s major point of dispute was with the Town’s assertion that there were pre-existing easements on them that would benefit FLN and grant it access to its fuel farm through the West Apron.

11/02/2025

Eight at-large candidates take part in HP forum
For the full story, go to:
https://bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/boston_bulletin_pagesx_1_to_12___30oct2025.pdf =4
By Matthew MacDonald

On Wednesday and Thursday last week, the eight candidates vying for the four at-large city council seats that will be up for grabs on Nov. 4 participated in a forum at The Pryde community center in Hyde Park and at the Honan Allston Branch of the Boston Public Library.

The event was truncated due to the large number of participants, the format (each candidate was given two minutes to answer the same question), and the fact that it started about 15 minutes behind schedule (because of some candidates arriving late) while finishing at its scheduled time.

Consequently, the forum was cut down to opening statements and four questions – most of the answers to which resulted in general agreement between the candidates. Beyond that, the forum participants and approximately 50 attendees had to deal with a problematic sound system that sometimes made it difficult for everyone to clearly hear what was being said.

The questions focused on Hyde Park issues but contained elements pertaining to the entire city.

That noted, an early question – regarding ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) activities in the neighborhood (unconfirmed by the Boston Police Department) and the city – illustrated a frustrating aspect of the event: the limitations of forums relative to formal debates.

The Trust Act came up repeatedly in responses, with half of the candidates – including incumbents Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, and Henry Santana – in favor of strengthening it.

Late in the round, however, challenger Will Onuoha explained that ICE is under federal law, which supersedes city ordinances. He added that “all the Trust Act tells you is that Boston Police can’t do the job of ICE. But guess what? Boston Police has never done the job of ICE, nor do they ever want to. Secondly, it tells you that if ICE does call them… Boston Police has to help them.” He went on to warn of the dangers of misunderstanding the Trust Act and emphasized – as everyone who had spoken before him had done – the importance of community education.

11/02/2025

Mostly positive on B’nai B’rith
For the full story, go to:
bulletinnewspapers.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/4/8/114832579/wr_ros_bulletin_pagesx_1_to_12__30oct2025.pdf =5
By Jeff Sullivan

The Boston Planning Department met with residents and representatives from B’nai B’rith Housing last week regarding the latter’s proposal to turn the current parking lot at 4259-4267 Washington St. in the Square into a six-story, 41-unit affordable senior living facility.

Real Estate Senior Project Manager Chris James said the rents will be divided into 16 units at 30 percent area median income (AMI), one unit at 50 percent AMI, and 24 units a 60 percent AMI. He said the 30 percent AMI will have a maximum rent of 30 percent of income, and the 60 percent will have a max rent of $1,862.

Residents were generally positive about the project, with several residents expressing unbound support, but others expressing support predicated on the project addressing a few concerns.

This project has been colloquially known as the Bank of America Lot Project, which is technically true. The Bank of America Building is owned by the B’nai B’rith company, and though representatives have said they are looking into redeveloping the site eventually, they have no current plans.

The lot is the main project discussed here, and will be redeveloped into the aforementioned senior living facility. James took pains to stipulate that the Thrift Shop of Boston, which raises funds to help, at least in part, programming at the Home for Littler Wanderers locations throughout the city, will not be disrupted.

Essentially, James said since the Thrift Shop is in the Bank of America building, they can build this new building without disturbing them and then transfer the shop to the new building once it’s built.

Bulletin Newspapers and the Norwood Record

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/02/2025

11/02/2025

11/02/2025

11/02/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category