A Class A office building proposed for 4-6 Newbury St. in Boston is stalled due to a lawsuit by an abutter.
A lawsuit has stalled plans to turn a Newbury Street parking garage into an office building.
Pierre DeBourgknecht, owner of 8 Newbury St., filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court alleging a proposal to replace the 6-story garage at 4-6 Newbury St. with a mix of offices and retail would compromise the structural integrity of his building.
“We want to make sure that our building is protected during construction,” said Edward A. Alcock, an attorney at Marcus, Errico, Em-mer & Brooks, a Braintree-based law firm representing DeBourgknecht. “If something is damaged during demolition or construction, we need assurances that they will fix it.”
In April, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a $20 million proposal by Centremark Properties and Bristol Property Management to replace the garage with a 7-story office building. The 49,000-square-foot, terra cotta-and-glass structure would offer retail on the first three floors and offices on the upper levels.
Last month, the developers sought approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals for an 84-foot tall building that would exceed the district’s height limits of 65 feet. The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay opposed the increase. In a last minute deal brokered by State Rep. Martha M. Walz during a break in the ZBA hearing, the developers agreed to lower the height to six stories.
Walz did not return a call seeking comment.
Peter J. Bassett, president of Bristol Property Management, co-developer of the office building, said he expects the matter to be settled out of court. “They filed a lawsuit to buy time after the ZBA hearing, but it’s a non-story,” he said.
Nader Golestaneh, president of Centremark, concurred. “This lawsuit will be dismissed before a court date is scheduled,” he said.
Alcock, DeBourgknecht’s attorney, said while he expects a settlement to be reached shortly, the details are still being worked out.
“An agreement is in the works, but they have not been agreed upon yet,” he said. “The documents are going back and forth between the lawyers’ offices. We are not seeking a financial settlement, but we want to make sure our building is protected during blasting, demolition and construction.”
The garage is located on the first block of Newbury Street opposite the TAJ Boston, formerly the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and is surrounded by upscale shops. The brick building was constructed in 1980 to provide parking for the Carlton House at 2 Commonwealth Ave. and the Ritz. The garage was sold last summer to Newbury Garage Assoc., a Centremark subsidiary, for $15.9 million.
