The Boston Globe
A Newton-based developer is filing plans to convert 31 Milk Street into a residential location.
A small but growing number of buildings in downtown Boston are expected to be converted from offices to residential housing. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe
A Newton-based real estate company has proposed converting 31 Milk St. in downtown Boston into 110 apartments, a project that would cost about $52.5 million, according to documents recently filed with Boston Planning and Development Agency.
Dinosaur Capital Partners LLC of Newton is proposing to convert the upper 10 floors of the 11-story building into 40 studio, 50 one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom units. Rents would range between $2,500 and $4,500 per month.
About a third of the 10 office floors – 30,655 square feet – is occupied by 11 office tenants. Of these tenants, six have leases that expire within the next 18 months. The other five “have rents significantly higher than current office market rents,” and the developer intends to “work with them and local brokers to identify economic space in comparable buildings in the financial district,” Dinosaur said in its BPDA filing.
The Classical Revival style building was constructed in 1921, with windows facing Milk, Arch and Hawley Streets. Its ground floor houses a U.S. Postal Service location that “is not part of the applicant’s property,” the developer’s BPDA application states.
In total, the city of Boston has filed applications to convert 18 offices spanning 611,000 square feet into 690 apartments.
