Huntington Avenue development adds two residential floors

A major Fenway project that includes a new home for the Huntington Theatre Company is getting two more residential floors.

The Boston Planning and Development Agency on July 11 approved the request from the developer—a group of investors operating as QMG Huntington Limited Partnership—to add the additional floors, which will mean up to 20 more apartments.

The tower component of the redevelopment, at 252-258 Huntington Avenue, is now expected to have 446 apartments total, with sizes ranging from studios to two-bedrooms.

The tower’s height, though, will not change. That is because the developer is reducing the floor-to-ceiling heights within the same 362-foot frame, starting at the third floor. That translates into an increase of 24,710 square feet, for 431,210 square feet total.

The BPDA originally approved the development in December 2017, about a year after QMG bought the Huntington Theatre Company’s building from Boston University for $25 million.

The project includes 7,500 square feet of retail and a refurbished and expanded theater inside and alongside the tower. The company, which will also contribute to the refurbishment, will own its five-story, 70-foot building and get a low-cost, 100-year lease for much of the tower’s lowest two floors.

The recent tweak will not affect the floor-to-ceiling dimensions of the theater portion of the project, which also adds three more residential units designated as affordable in a Boston that sorely needs them.