Six-building, 344-unit Allston Square wins key approval

Add another project to busy, busy Allston. The Boston Planning & Development Agency has approved the six-building, 344-unit Allston Square project centered on Cambridge Street and Harvard Avenue.

The project is due to include 100 rental units and 244 ownership spreads. Those spreads will include 12 income-restricted ones aimed at artists seeking live-work space. All totaled, 45 of Allston Square’s units will be income-restricted.

Four of the six buildings will be new, and developer City Realty plans to preserve and incorporate the existing Allston Hall at 4 Braintree Street and the Allen Building at 334 Cambridge Street—the former home of Jack Young Auto Parts—as part of the project.

Allston Square is also due to host a lot of public artwork, including murals and sculptures as well as exhibition space amid 91,000 square feet of open space, according to the plans that the BPDA approved November 14. That open space is meant to connect the six buildings too. And there will be 158 parking spaces and 12,860 square feet of retail as part of the project.

What’s going on at Cambridge and Harvard is only part of the changing Allston puzzle. The neighborhood is awaiting Harvard University’s latest moves with the school’s multi-acre footprint along Western Avenue. And then there’s the similarly ambitious Allston Yards redevelopment proposal where Allston meets Brighton. Stay tuned.