Cushing Village

For Immediate Release:
Belmont, December 30, 2011:  Smith Legacy Partners Series LLC (“Smith Legacy Partners”) on Wednesday, December 28^th, submitted its Special Permit Site Review (SPSR) application to the Town of Belmont's Office of Community Development.  The SPSR application detailed its plan for Cushing Village, the company’s project to redevelop the southeast quadrant of Cushing Square.  To move forward, the project team needs a Special Permit from the Planning Board under the Cushing Square Overlay District (CSOD) Bylaw. The CSOD Bylaw was passed by Belmont Town Meeting in 2007 to provide developers incentives to create high-density, mixed-use projects within Cushing Square in the hopes of stimulating commerce and creating new residential/retail options for local residents.
 Under the new CSOD by-law and regulations, Smith Legacy Partners proposes a Cushing Village that will provide a welcomed balance of upscale retail along with stylish and convenient living units. The permit application, as submitted, contains the plans for a development with 37,258 square feet of retail space and 142 rental apartment units.  Smith Legacy Partners hopes to bring in a small-format grocery store to anchor the retail.
The SPRS application indicates a 2.05 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for the project, which is significantly lower than the 3.0 FAR allowed by the CSOD by special permit.  FAR is a measure of building density proposed for a site.   “We are intentionally leaving one third of our development rights out of the proposal in order to address previous concerns voiced by local residents that the project was too big.”, said Chris Starr, Principal of Smith Legacy Partners.
As proposed, the unit mix for the residential space contains 82 one bedroom units and 60 two bedroom units. This unit mix is drastically different from previous proposals. In order to prevent any undo strain on the local school system, the developer decided to redesign the project so that the number of two bedroom units was reduced.  Previous plans proposed two third s of the units to be two-bedrooms.  Now, within the current proposal, less than half are two bedrooms.  According to a study by the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), a non-profit citizens watchdog group, a typical apartment development will add one school age child per one hundred one bedroom units, versus twenty five children per one hundred two bedroom units.  The school impacts from the new proposal should be nominal based upon this study and the proposed unit mix.
“We feel this is a modestly sized proposal that balances neighborhood concerns with achieving the goals of increased tax revenues and stimulating the local economy.”, said Chris Starr, Principal. The first hearing regarding this new proposal is expected for late January.