A nine-storey building planned for 201 Avon St. finally was conditionally approved at the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting on December 19 by the slender margin of one vote. A 4-3 decision, it came down to whether enough board members could stomach having such a massive building at the site, which shares a block with the Beck-Cohen building between Friendship Court and the Downtown Mall.
 This rendering shows what passers-by on the Belmont Bridge will soon see: a nine-storey luxury condo building that won conditional approval from the BAR. |
The building will house 100 luxury condos with a six-room boutique hotel and a health club/spa. The design, as suggested by the BAR at a prior meeting, will also allow the lower floors to convert to retail if area foot traffic increases. Architect Randolph Croxton of New York worked diligently to incorporate BAR recommendations on details, according to several board members.
“The debatable issue overwhelmingly was just the mass of the project in that neighborhood,” says Michael Osteen, planning commissioner and member of the BAR, who voted for the project. “It is a big building. It’s a site that could take a big building and if we’re looking for the density and the activity on the street then we need to have people living over there so that can happen.”
After deferring a decision at their November meeting, the BAR was required to vote this time around. Croxton will still need to change a few details and present physical samples of his materials for ultimate approval.
Members Amy Gardner and William Adams were not present for the meeting. “I don’t know if it would have gone differently had we had all the members,” says Chair Fred Wolf.