Boston-based real estate firm Beacon Communities LLC has solidified its plans for the commercial block 793-821 Washington Street in Newtonville. Beacon Communities purchased the property in April 2025 and applied for a demolition permit on February 4. The project? New construction of an all-electric housing development with all units designated affordable.
The current two-story building is home to several local businesses, including the Rice Valley Chinese restaurant, the Che! Empanada restaurant, a florist (Centre Pieces Design) and Bikofsky Insurance. Beacon Communities has said that they will all be relocated.
The schematic design that Beacon Communities submitted to the City in October 2025 shows plans for a five-story building, with a sixth story set back. The first floor includes retail spaces. The proposed development will contain 56 units of housing, which range in size from one- to three-bedroom apartments. They are designed to be affordable for households with incomes at 30%, 60%, and 80% of the Area Median Income. All apartments would be rentals.
Beacon Communities has requested $2 million in funds from the Newton Affordable Housing Trust (NAHT), according to an application submitted to the City. The Trust, which receives funding from the City’s Community Preservation Act, is authorized to provide financial support to affordable housing developments in Newton. Additionally, Beacon Communities is seeking over $25 million in federal and state Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) funds.
Should that funding be approved, construction would likely begin in the spring or summer of 2027, said Josh Cohen, Beacon Communities’ President of Development, at a February 26 meeting of the Newton Historical Commission.
The proposed development meets the requirements of the Village Center Overlay District (VCOD) zoning that the City Council passed in December 2023. It needs standard building and demolition permits, but under VCOD zoning, it would be permitted as-of-right.
Beacon Communities did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Tenant relocation
In its NAHT application, Beacon Communities said that all current commercial tenants of 793-821 Washington Street would be relocated. The firm also committed to working with a relocation consultant throughout the process.
“Beacon intends to work with all commercial tenants to ensure they can remain successful businesses throughout relocation and for many years to come,” the application reads in part.
According to the application, all but one lease will expire before construction. Beacon Communities said that it would take “special care” with the termination of that remaining lease.
City Councilor Tarik Lucas (Ward 2), whose ward is home to 793-821 Washington Street, said that while he thinks the proposed development is “promising,” he hopes that the building’s current tenants will be able to remain in Newton. He said that he and other local leaders plan to meet with Beacon representatives to learn more.
“The Ward 2 Councilors are going to be meeting with the development team, just to learn more about the process, what the City of Newton can do to help them out, what we can do to help them out,” he said. “But we would like for Rice Valley and Che! Empanada — just to name two of them — to remain in Newton. They’ve been good community members. Their restaurants are very popular.”
The transportation question
In its NAHT application, Beacon Communities described the proposed development as “transit-oriented.”
“[The] transit-oriented site is located directly across from the Newtonville commuter rail station and adjacent to route 553, 554, 556, and 59 bus stops,” the application reads in part.
A November 2025 letter of support from the Newton Fair and Affordable Housing Partnership, the City’s advisory board on fair housing needs and policies, also praised the proposed development’s location and access to public transit.
“The project is ideally located within two blocks of the Newtonville MBTA commuter rail station and along several bus routes connecting Newton with Boston and other surrounding communities. It is also within a short walking distance of a range of commercial and shopping services in Newtonville, including a Star Market and CVS, as well as Newton’s newly completed Cooper Senior Center,” the letter reads in part.
However, the proposed development does not include any resident parking. To Councilor Lucas, this point merits further discussion.
“I do want them to actively work on the parking issues that may come up, particularly employee parking and where the residents, if they have cars, are going to park,” he said.
One solution, he said, could be allowing employees and residents to park at the nearby Trio complex.
“There’s ample space there,” he said. “The City Council granted Trio permission to lease out spaces a couple of terms ago.”
In its NAHT application, Beacon Communities said that it was “working on an arrangement” with Trio owners to make some of that parking available to residents.
Historic significance
By default, applications for demolition permits for Newton buildings over 50 years old must come before the City’s Office of Historic Preservation for review. If Preservation Staff deem the building in question to be “historically significant,” the Newton Historical Commission may vote to designate the property as “preferably preserved” and impose a demolition delay of up to 12 months, and, in some cases, up to 18 months.
According to the Commission, “historically significant” properties are, among other things, “importantly associated with historic person(s) or event(s) or with the architectural, cultural, political, economic, or social history of the City,” or “historically or architecturally important for their period, style, method of construction, or association with a particular architect or builder, either by themselves or in the context of a group of buildings or structures.”
According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the existing building at 793-821 Washington Street was built circa 1899. Its architectural features include granite lintels, a projecting cornice, a rounded corner, and a secondary cornice.
Preservation staff initially deemed the existing building historically significant. According to their review decision, the property fell into the category of “historically or architecturally important for period, style, architect, builder, or context.”
However, at a February 26 meeting, the Historical Commission voted against designating the existing building as preferably preserved, clearing the way for the demolition process to continue.
In that meeting, Beacon Communities President of Development Cohen said that while Beacon Communities has much experience with adaptive reuse of historic buildings, the small footprint of the 793-821 Washington Street property necessitated demolition.
“It’s an incredible site for affordable housing, and so we’re regretfully proposing to tear down this existing building,” he said. “But we’re really excited about what we get to replace it with, and what we’ll be doing to add to the fabric of Newton’s built environment.”
Cohen also asked the Commission to consider that a preferably preserved designation could hurt Beacon’s application for funding from the state.
“A determination that this property does not meet the preferably preserved designation would be a very powerful signal to the state as we go to the state for funding,” he said. “And a decision that it does is something that could make it challenging for the Commonwealth to fund the deal in the current round.”
Even though the Commission voted against a preferably preserved designation, Councilor Lucas said that he thinks some of the existing building’s features are worth protecting. He hopes that the development team can find a way to preserve them.
“I would like for them to try to keep the copper gutters that are on the top of the second floor, just underneath the roof line. You don’t see too many of those anymore,” he said. “Maybe they could try to keep some of the facade, but I know there are challenges with that, and their costs would go up.”
Affordable housing market
In fall 2025, Beacon Communities commissioned a market study to “estimate the likely demand for low and moderate-income housing units within Newton and the surrounding market area.”
“Based on our analysis of the market, we estimate that substantial demand exists for the proposed affordable rental units,” the study concluded.
In its NAHT application, Beacon Communities said that the proposed development will result in a variety of benefits for Newton.
“The proposed development … will enhance Newton’s social, racial, and economic diversity by making the city more accessible to lower-and moderate-income families who are often excluded by high housing costs. This includes essential workers, seniors, young families, and communities of color who have been historically underrepresented due to systemic barriers,” the application reads in part. “Building affordable housing units in this area also helps prevent displacement, strengthens the local workforce, and ensures broader access to Newton’s quality schools and public resources.”
In its letter of support, the Newton Fair and Affordable Housing Partnership shared a similar sentiment.
“This level of affordable housing is deeply needed in Newton, where market rents for 2-bedroom units average around $3,200/month and house prices averaging above $1.5 million,” the letter reads in part. “We welcome this development as an excellent opportunity to add 56 units of well-located and environmentally sensitive affordable housing in Newtonville and promote income diversity in our city. We urge the Commonwealth to provide the funding the project needs to move forward.”
Theo Younkin is a Fig City News student reporter, a senior at Newton South High School, and former Co-Editor-in-Chief of the NSHS Lion’s Roar.
