In spite of new rules aimed at curbing the amount of off-street parking built in the city's transit-oriented neighborhoods, year-end statistics compiled by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) indicate that developers are still building considerably more parking spaces than homes in the City of Boston.
The BPDA, the City of Boston's planning agency, approved 91 building proposals over the course of 2022 that could give the city 5,249 new homes*, 8 million square feet of new commercial space, and enough parking to store 8,804 more cars.
More than four-fifths of that new parking – 7,227 spaces – would be built in transit-accessible neighborhoods within a half-mile of an MBTA rapid transit or commuter rail station.
Summary of 2022 BPDA project approvals
"TOD" indicates "transit-oriented development" – projects that are located within a half-mile of an MBTA rapid transit or commuter rail station. This table includes data from "notice of project change" approvals, which are revisions to previously-approved projects. Source: BPDA
Total
In TOD
% in TOD
Number of projects
91
71
78%
Total square footage of new buildings
16.2 million SF
13.3 million SF
82%
Commercial square footage
8.0 million SF
6.8 million SF
85%
Institutional square footage
193,297 SF
97,300 SF
50%
Residential square footage
5.1 million SF
4.1 million SF
82%
Residential units
5,249
4,081
78%
Parking spaces
8,804
7,552
86%
In spite of the city's pressing housing shortage and ambitious climate goals, which call for fewer cars on Boston's streets by 2030, the BPDA's project approvals this year include more parking and less housing compared to last year.
In 2021, planners approved 8,668 new parking spaces – 136 fewer than this year – and considerably more housing (7,887 new apartments). Project approvals in 2022 also included considerably more commercial and lab space compared to 2021.
But many of the BPDA's project approvals in 2022 were submitted and vetted before those new rules took effect.
25 of the BPDA's project approvals last year were for "notices of project change" – revisions to projects that the agency had already approved in prior years.
On average, those 25 "notice of project change" approvals would build 0.66 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of work or residential space, while projects that were approved for the first time ever in 2022 include about 0.57 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet (note in the table above that residential projects generally have roughly 1,000 square feet per apartment – this includes hallways and other common areas).
One of the biggest "notice of project change" approvals was for the multi-block "Seaport Square" project, which was originally approved in 2010, and revised again in 2017 and 2019.
But plans for Seaport Square have also trimmed the project's parking footprint over the past decade. The original 2010 proposal envisioned the construction of 6,575 new parking spaces in the Seaport, but the latest version calls for 5,700 spaces – a 13 percent reduction.
Among the 66 projects that the BPDA approved for the first time this year – many of which were subject to the agency's new parking limits – developers are generally planning to build less parking than in projects approved in prior years.
Among purely residential projects, the BPDA's new project approvals averaged about 0.6 parking spaces per apartment. And among 32 new mixed-use projects, the average parking ratio will be 0.4 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail, office, or residential space.
Summary of 2022 BPDA first-time project approvals
Excluding "project change" approvals for previously-approved developments
"TOD" indicates "transit-oriented development" – projects that are located within a half-mile of an MBTA rapid transit or commuter rail station. This table excludes data from the BPDA's 2022 "notice of project change" approvals, which are revisions to previously-approved projects. Source: BPDA
Total
In TOD
% in TOD
Number of projects
66
51
77%
Total square footage of new buildings
9.5 million SF
7.3 million SF
77%
Commercial square footage
4.5 million SF
3.7 million SF
83%
Institutional square footage
105,987 SF
83,500 SF
79%
Residential square footage
3.0 million SF
2.1 million SF
71%
Residential units
3,225
2,127
66%
Parking spaces
4,286
3,139
73%
A small handful of these newly-approved projects will actually result in a net reduction of parking in the city, by replacing existing parking lots with new buildings that don't have any on-site parking whatsoever.
One of those projects will go up in the Fort Point neighborhood, at 17 Farnsworth Street. There, developers are planning to demolish a 361-space parking garage that was built in 1986, and replace it with a four-story lab and office building with no on-site parking, resulting in a considerable net reduction in the number of vehicles able to park in the Seaport.
That building (pictured at the top of this article) will also include space for a new Boston Public Library branch to serve the Chinatown neighborhood on its ground floor.
In 2014, the City of Somerville endorsed a plan to create new affordable housing, spaces for small businesses, and public plazas for city-owned land next to the new Gilman Square Green Line Station. Nearly a decade later, it's still an empty lot.