After nearly four years in the works, approval of the proposed Cleveland Circle Cinema redevelopment project is being held up by community opposition, eliciting frustration from both sides. Lying across the street from the Cleveland Circle and Reservoir MBTA stations and adjacent to the Cassidy playground, the cinema at 399 Chestnut Hill Ave. has been vacant since it closed in 2008.
Despite the site’s potential as a transit-oriented development, continuing community concerns, including an ongoing feud over the Waterworks Driveway, which runs behind the site and through the Waterworks condominium property, have stalled progression.
In an interview with Banker & Tradesman, Boston Development Group CEO David Zussman and project manager John Meunier said that they are experiencing difficulty coming to a “reasonable settlement” with condominium residents and community members.
In 2009, the company began putting together a redevelopment plan to build a complex that originally included 196 hotel rooms, 74 residential units, 18,000 square feet of medical offices and 14,200 square feet of retail space. Over the last four years, the proposal has been pared down to 162 hotel rooms, 92 residential units, and 14,400 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Since the submittal of a draft project impact report, plans for the 2.56-acre site are currently under review by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
However, the project’s approval is on hold until an agreement concerning the roadway is made and other concerns are addressed.
Residents of the Waterworks condominium have contested the use of a back roadway that passes in front of the condominium and connects to Beacon Street.
Purchase of the cinema site from National Amusements would include the right to use the roadway, according to a letter from the Boston Development Group’s legal counsel Bonin and Marshian, P.C. It also asserts that the condominium owners have no rights to object to the roadways’ use.
Residents, on the other hand, said the change in road usage was not reported to them.
“When we all bought the condos, we had control over that roadway and it was undisclosed to us that it was turned over to the park trust,” said resident Ilene Solomon. “People were totally furious about that. We were duped, we really were duped. People were just irate when they found out.”
The BRA, the town of Brookline and the development group have reportedly been in talks with Waterworks residents to reach an agreement over the road usage.
“The big delay in this proceeding has been their objections. We and the BRA want to make them as happy as we can, so we’ve been negotiating with them,” said Zussman. “It is our hope that [the BRA] will resume the hearing of the site before their board ends.”
Road Vs. Driveway
However, Solomon said that she and other residents don’t feel like they are being taken seriously and that increasing traffic on the roadway would be unsafe.
“It’s not a ‘road,’ it’s more of a driveway, and it’s very narrow – it’s only 14 and a half feet. The developer and some of the government members who want this project going through are not paying attention to what the residents are saying,” she said. “It is like the emperor’s new clothes, it’s such an obvious mistake.”
While some changes have been made in response to community voices – 18,000 square feet of medical offices were cut due to traffic concerns – the size of the project continues to be a concern.
This fall, the project’s total square footage went from 172,500 to 234,550, and Cleveland Circle residents like Ruth Scheer fear the resulting traffic from the increased size of the project.
“The developer has not been forthcoming with us, so this whole project sort of feels like a moving target. They keep changing things,” said Scheer, citing recent public meetings in which she says there was incomplete or no documentation given to members of the public.
In accordance with standards set by the town of Brookline, the Boston Development Group conducted a traffic study and funded a second study with a consultant group chosen by then town. Meunier said that the developer’s traffic plan “will actually make the intersection better than it is today.”
The developers reported that their plan revisions reduced peak hour traffic by around 25 percent and that they worked with the MBTA to resolve preexisting issues with the Green Line’s D line.
“We have come up with a plan and funding which will make that level of service improve from F to D, which is a significant improvement, even with the added traffic from our project,” said Meunier.
However, community members have voiced their displeasure with the traffic study and the work done by Boston Development Group.
“They were collecting data on the volume of traffic in Cleveland Circle, and they tried to do it during the winter and did it on days when Boston College, which is right down the road and contributes to the traffic volume, was not in session. What are we supposed to make of that?” said Sheer.
Hinging on the project’s approval are agreements to purchase the purchase the cinema and Applebee’s sites. Until community and developer settlements have been made and the plan is approved by the BRA, the cinema site will continue to remain dormant.
“I think people in the Waterworks area would like a development there, with the old cinema there and everything. Right now, I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” said Solomon.
The project was not on the BRA meeting agenda and no further community meetings had been scheduled by press time.
