Hotel project near Greenway moves ahead

Plans for a much-debated boutique hotel facing the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway at the gateway to Boston’s North End cleared the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal Tuesday, a key approval needed before construction can begin. The five-story, 134-room hotel at 40-42 Cross St., proposed by William Caulder of 6M Development, would include restaurants on both the ground floor and roof, as well as a two-story open-air passageway to the adjacent Cutillo Park. The Boston Planning & Development Agency approved the project in March. The hotel proposal generated several hundred letters in support and opposition. Fliers advocating against the development papered the neighborhood of late, asking residents to contact officials to voice concerns. Over the weekend, the North End Waterfront Residents Association held a rally against the project. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, because of the impacts to several neighbors, but the overall development is going to be an incredible improvement for this corner of the neighborhood that is full of blight,” Caulder said after the meeting. The site, which houses one-story buildings and surface parking spaces, makes frequent appearances on the city’s 311 complaint line, with residents asking for needle pickup, graffiti removal, and trash cleanup. The project required zoning variances to allow for a hotel and restaurants as well as to be up to 55 feet tall, said Johanna Schneider, an attorney representing the developer. The maximum building height allowed there under existing zoning is 15 feet. The development team received more than 385 letters of support, Schneider said, and attended more than 40 meetings to discuss the project. The hotel will not have any parking, as it is “extremely walkable” and served by multiple modes of public transportation, Schneider said. The development team has begun discussions with nearby parking garages for valet parking and has been talking with the Boston Transportation Department about potential overnight parking locations, she said.