Developer plans to grow garage 17 stories for apartments

A massive parking garage near the Boston Common will rise 17 stories higher with a new residential tower on top of the Motor Mart garage, according to development plans filed with the city.

CIM Group, a Los Angeles-based real estate firm, told Boston officials this week it plans to add a 233,500-square-foot apartment and condo tower to the garage. The development will create about 280 units, CIM said in a letter of intent. The new tower will rise nearly 280 feet.

To make room for the tower, CIM will renovate the core of the garage, eliminating roughly 450 parking spaces. The new garage will have 600 parking spaces. CIM will also upgrade the garage’s existing retail space and add 106,000 square feet of additional residential and retail space.

When CIM acquired the building in 2016, CIM said the garage would be a key asset for the company.

“Motor Mart Garage, located just two blocks from Boston Common at the intersection of two vibrant districts, serves a multitude of office workers, neighboring hotels, theatergoers, tourists and shoppers who visit this area every day,” said Avi Shemesh, co-founder and principal of CIM Group, in a 2016 press release. “This prime operating parking asset represents one of the target sectors of our infrastructure strategy, which focuses on public goods and services that support urban communities.”

CIM declined to comment yesterday.

The garage, at 201 Stuart St., was originally built in 1927, and was most recently renovated in 1999, according to CIM’s purchase announcement in 2016.

CIM also owns an 11-story office building on Washington Street in the South End, as well as a parking garage next door, more than two acres in the Fenway and other properties in the city.

The letter of intent is the first step in the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s approval process.