RESIDENTIAL TOWER SOUGHT FOR ROXBURY

A Dorchester company plans to build a 25-story residential and commercial tower in Roxbury’s Dudley Square Business District.

Bounded by Shawmut Avenue and Washington, Marvin and Roxbury streets, the Rio Grande would be the district’s first mixed-use tower, with 236 one- and twobedroom apartments, studios and “micro” units, as well as one floor of residential amenity space and two floors of commercial space, according to a letter Lisa J. Guscott, president and CEO of Rio Grande River Limited Partnership, filed yesterday with the Boston Planning & Development Agency.

Twenty percent of the residential units would be designated affordable, exceeding city requirements, Guscott said. And the project, located directly across from the Dudley MBTA Station, would offer bike storage and “a lower car parking ratio... to promote the use of alternative means of transportation,” she said, although off-site parking options are being “explored.”

“The project will have a transformative impact in achieving the (city’s) physical and economic revitalization goals... relative to constructing transit-oriented development projects that are comprised of higher buildings in densely populated neighborhoods to meet housing demand,” Guscott said.

The project site is beside the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, which is the new home of the Boston Public Schools’ headquarters and serves as the “catalystic anchor of the upcoming economic and physical revitalization of Dudley Square,” she said.

The tower would be built behind two existing commercial buildings on land the company owns, Guscott said. The existing buildings currently are under lease agreements with a variety of tenants who plan to remain, she said.

In her letter, Guscott said her company also plans to file an Expanded Project Notification Form, which involves conducting a comprehensive analysis of the project’s potential impact upfront to try to resolve problems early on and streamline the zoning review process.

In an email, Bonnie McGilpin, a spokeswoman for the Boston Planning & Development Agency, said: “We received the Letter of Intent this afternoon, and we look forward to reviewing the proposal.”

City Councilor Tito Jackson, who represents Roxbury, did not return a call seeking comment.