With all the discussion around housing or lack thereof in MA, I decided to post this. Delete if already posted.

02/10/2023

Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Beverly Planning Board on Monday night will set the date for a public hearing on this proposal but will not discuss the proposal on Monday.BEVERLY — A developer has proposed building a three-story apartment building on top of the MBTA parking garage on Rantoul Street.

Barnat Development President Sarah Barnat said the building would be connected to the current Holmes Beverly apartment building and would have 70 apartments.

“It’s a creative and thoughtful way of adding more units around the train station,” Barnat said.

The MBTA garage opened in 2014 across the street from the Beverly Depot and was designed to support up to four levels of development on top of it. Barnat’s company signed a 99-year-lease with the MBTA for the right to build on the land in front of the garage and above it.

The Holmes Beverly apartment building was built in front of the garage at 110 Rantoul St. and opened in 2019. It has 67 apartments, with the restaurant Frank located on the ground floor.

According to an application filed with the city, the new building would be a three-story, 70,000-square-foot addition to the Holmes Beverly building. It would have 70 apartments, with a least eight of them qualified as affordable housing.

The two buildings would be connected by an internal pedestrian passageway. Barnat said the new building would not be higher than the existing Holmes Beverly building.

The proposal comes as several landowners and developers have filed applications with the city in anticipation of possible zoning changes that would limit the height of new buildings in the downtown area. Barnat said she filed the plans “in order to secure the as-of-right zoning we currently have.”

“At a time when new, transit-oriented housing is needed to support our growing economy, it is critical to move forward with long-planned for projects,” she said.

The Beverly Planning Board on Monday night will set a date to hold a public hearing on the proposal but will not discuss the proposal on Monday.