<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1Q72Xg_1H0VNg9K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1Q72Xg_1H0VNg9K00" width="1200" height="626" ><figcaption>Conceptual proposal for Life Plan Community at former Muzi site./ Credit: Bulfinch</figcaption></figure>Since the shuttering of the Muzi auto dealership five years ago this month, the 10-acre parcel at 557 Highland Ave. has had more sightings of coyotes than it has of construction workers.The owners of the vacant property hope to change that scenario by bringing a zoning package to Town Meeting in May that would provide the framework to make the parcel home to hundreds of senior households.The president of the Bulfinch Companies, Robert Schlager, outlined his company’s plans during a one-hour appearance at the Nov. 4 Planning Board meeting that was described on the agenda as “informal.” Schlager called the plan a “conceptual senior housing development.” Branded as Highland Senior Living, it calls for 480 independent living units and 80 memory care beds to be operated as a continuing care retirement community, or CCRC.If all comes to fruition, it will join North Hill, which helped pioneer the concept, as the town’s only CCRCs.A preliminary site plan shows five buildings ranging from three to six stories totaling 630,000 square feet of interior space. In addition to residential buildings, there would be a building providing memory care and medical support and another for amenities for residents.There would be structured parking underground for 600+ vehicles as well as approximately 100 surface spaces.“It’s a generally vibrant community with high-end amenities, exclusive amenities for the residents,” Schlager said. “There would be a swimming pool, there would be pickleball courts, there would be restaurants. Again, exclusive to the facility members only.”Also known as Life Plan Communities, CCRCs offer its residents a continuum of care. That level of care would intensify should the needs of residents change without requiring them to move to a different community. A CCRC’s signature element is a contractual agreement that typically includes a substantial entrance fee in exchange for guaranteed future care.This would be an atypical property for Bulfinch, which is almost exclusively a commercial property operator with approximately 4.4 million square feet of life-science, medical-office, office and industrial assets. It intends to partner with an established CCRC operator for both the planning of the project and eventual operation of the community. “We do not have a senior housing operator on our team as of yet,” Schlager told the board at the outset of his appearance. “What we’d like to do is to get your support before we begin the process of initiating a zoning amendment, which is what is required in order to rezone the property to accommodate senior housing.”Major zoning changes requiredThe current zoning in the property’s Highway Commercial 1 district was established in late 2022 after an eight-and-a-half month Planning Board review. There was significant neighborhood opposition to the zoning change, which was tailored to support a mixed-use project centered on life-science labs and offices, although it also allows up to 240 housing units.When the life-science sector collapsed, Bulfinch pivoted to explore housing-centric as well as other mixed-use options. Schlager said deep looks at retail and market-rate housing options found significant drawbacks while the CCRC program showed the most promise.Schlager said his attorney, Needham resident Tim Sullivan of Goulston and Storrs, will submit a draft of new zoning for the Planning Board to consider by the end of the month. The Planning Board’s guidance to Bulfinch was to begin an intensive community outreach program as soon as possible and to cast a wide net in doing so — a suggestion which Schlager endorsed and indicated was already in process.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=00Z61k_1H0VNg9K00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=00Z61k_1H0VNg9K00" width="1200" height="718" ><figcaption>Conceptual proposed for Highland Senior Living./ Credit: Bulfinch</figcaption></figure>Vice chair Adam Block emphasized that the goal of getting a fully vetted zoning regimen before Town Meeting in the spring would be a very aggressive timeline given notice requirements, the scale of the project and the breadth of the review required to assess municipal impact and other concerns.Schlager did not disagree, but noted the impacts would be considerably less than those anticipated in 2022 by the proposed life-sciences complex, especially when it came to traffic generation.“There’s no longer a need to widen Gould Street and to construct the light at Gould and Central,” Schlager said of mitigation measures that had been required by the life-sciences project.Schlager said the new program “will generate roughly 60% less vehicle trips than what existed” when both Muzi and the adjacent car wash were in full operation.During their questioning of Schlager, the Planning Board was mostly supportive.“The fact that you’re able to provide a whole continuum of care from independent living, assisted living and memory care, there’s a high demand,” said Block. “That makes sense. The location probably makes sense given its proximity to the highway network and the roadway network.”The most significant dissent came from member Oscar Mertz, who lamented what he sees as a missed opportunity to add market-rate housing to the mix. Schlager had cited neighborhood opposition and concerns he had heard about burdening the school system.Mertz said he wanted “to push back a little bit on what you just described. I think there is evidence that the concern — or perhaps overconcern — about multifamily impact on schools I think is something to dig into a little bit more.”“I know that CCRC’s are in demand, but we also need other kinds of housing, and this is a unique site for this.”“We don’t have a lot of sites left as you know so I guess I feel that there are fewer and fewer opportunities to try and solve larger scale issues.”Schlager accepted Mertz’s point regarding the issue of adding students.“I’m sure I’ll end up eating these words and getting quoted since this is a recorded meeting,” Schlager said. “But we have not been able to find support that school systems — notwithstanding the new Pollard school — that the school system is overburdened and that a community of multifamily housing would overburden the school system.“However, with that said, we all know that in connection with a zoning amendment, we need to be respectful to and listen carefully to the neighbors and abutters to the site. And that group has been historically a very, um, vocal group and has made it clear to us that any sort of multifamily development that is not age restricted — meaning over 55 — would not bode well with their support for the project.”Planning Board Chair Justin McCullen expressed a sense of some urgency, given the fact the site’s location is viewed as the “gateway to Needham” and the length of time it has been fallow.“I’m excited to see the potential of the site, seeing as it’s been just a blight on Needham Heights,” McCullen noted, to which Schlager said only “embarrassing.”Interviewed after the meeting, McCullen said he and his fellow board members were acutely aware that development of the Muzi site would provide a much-needed injection of new growth tax revenue for the town.Several town officials, including Finance Committee members, have expressed the opinion that significant new revenue streams should be dedicated solely to paying off Pollard Middle School debt.McCullen said the board would not let the need for revenue drive its decision making. “We believe that, with any development that goes into that place, that it’s a balance between the need for revenue and what’s the best for the immediate neighborhood and the town as a whole.” </div></body>

Block Source: needhamobserver.com

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Since the shuttering of the Muzi auto dealership five years ago this month, the 10-acre parcel at 557 Highland Ave. has had more sightings of coyotes than it has of construction workers. The owners of the vacant property hope to change that scenario by bringing a zoning package to Town...

Owner seeks zoning that would transform former Muzi site

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Since the shuttering of the Muzi auto dealership five years ago this month, the 10-acre parcel at 557 Highland Ave. has had more sightings of coyotes than 

Owner seeks zoning that would transform former Muzi site

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