Plans for former skating club site in Allston include more than 500 apartments and condos, plus a hotel

The developer hopes to begin construction by the end of next year on a project that will total nearly 600,000 square feet.

An artist's depiction of a public plaza proposed as part of The Davis Cos.' redevelopment of the former Boston Skating Club site in Allston, which will include three residential buildings and a hotel.Design Distill

Boston real estate development firm The Davis Cos. is moving forward with the transformation of the former Boston Skating Club site in Allston, filing a new document with the city this week and hosting a public meeting outlining plans to build 528 apartments and condominiums in three buildings, along with a hotel.

The filing follows city approval of its long-awaited Western Avenue Corridor Study and Rezoning plan, which sets development goals for Western Avenue and Soldiers Field Road along Everett Street toward the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston-Brighton, an area that has undergone substantial transformation in recent years.

“It’s been a long time in the making,” said Stephen Davis, co-president of The Davis Cos.

The former Boston Skating Club building in Allston.

The project would be the developer’s fourth in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood. The Davis Cos. bought the Skating Club site in 2018 for $26.25 million, with the club planning a move to Norwood, and in late January 2020 Davis proposed a major housing project for the site.

The current plan for the site includes an 18-story apartment tower with 380 units at 1240 Soldiers Field Road, a 10-story condo building, and the “re-creation” of the Studio Allston Hotel that’s currently located at 1234 Soldiers Field Road.

It will also feature an eight-story all-affordable residential building with a mix of 72 apartments and condos, developed in partnership with affordable housing nonprofits the Allston Brighton Community Development and the Community Builders Corp. John Woods, executive director of the Allston Brighton CDC, said the partnership is “a fairly innovative approach” that will allow deeper levels of affordability in the building by targeting low-income tax credits — all within a market-rate project.

“Rather than simply meeting the requirements of the (inclusionary development policy), we were asked to help think through some models that would actually respond to the type of need we see in the neighborhood,” Woods said at a public meeting on the project this week.

The Davis Cos.’ redevelopment of the former Boston Skating Club site in Allston will include 528 apartments and condos in three residential buildings, with one reaching 18 stories in height, along with an 11-story hotel. Here’s the view of the proposed project from Western Avenue at Telford Street. RODE Architects and OJB form the project's design team.Design Distill

The city’s inclusionary development policy, or IDP, outlines affordability requirements for new housing projects. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has been contemplating increasing the city’s IDP requirement to 20 percent, up from 13 percent, and in April tapped an 11-member advisory committee to study the potential change.

The three residential buildings planned at the Skating Club site will include a combined 435 apartments and 93 condos, along with the 195-room hotel, spanning a combined 582,000 square feet. Other features would include a courtyard fronting Western Avenue, two dog runs, and street-level retail.

The project was designed by Boston-based RODE Architects and OJB Landscape Architecture, also of Boston. Construction is planned to start by the end of next year.