Brookline leaders push zoning changes to clear way for 14-story Chestnut Hill redevelopment on Route 9

Jessica Smizer, executive director of Brookline Interactive Group, and Sam Mintz, editor of brookline.news, discussed a contested zoning proposal intended to unlock a large redevelopment on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill at 1280'1330 Boylston Street.

Smizer summarized the developer'led plan (City Realty) as a mixed-use project with three buildings roughly 7, 12 and 14 stories tall, combining housing, a hotel, ground-floor retail and medical office space. "It's such an interesting stand-in for a lot of the things and problems and conversations in Brookline around development," she said.

Mintz said the town faces fiscal pressures that make the commercial tax revenue such a project would generate attractive. "The latest estimate for the current proposal is more than $5,000,000 a year, and that's net revenue," he said, adding that those benefits would accrue over many years as the project is developed and leased.

Neighbors have pushed back over scale, shadowing and traffic impacts; Smizer relayed local objections that a 12- or 14-story building would be "out of place" next to existing homes. Advocates for taller buildings argue higher buildings preserve more open space on the site. "If you squeeze down at the top, you bulge out the rest of the property," Smizer quoted from a supporter, illustrating the trade-offs between height and site footprint.

The speakers described the procedural path: town staff and committees are finalizing a zoning proposal that would govern what can be built; if the process proceeds as expected, Town Meeting could vote on the zoning in May 2026. Mintz said such a change would likely require a two-thirds vote at Town Meeting.

Both hosts said the debate will continue through review by multiple boards and committees and at Town Meeting, and Mintz said he expects to cover the project in ongoing reporting.