Brighton Ave. development would cater to ‘zero-car households’

A rendering of the proposed development at 89 Brighton Avenue in Boston.Prellwitz Chilinski Associates

If you’re considering moving to one of 138 new apartments coming to Brighton Ave., you might want to scrap your car, brush up on your bike-riding skills, and download the Uber app.

Eden Properties, the company behind the project, said in a Friday filing that its new apartments at 89 Brighton Ave. would cater to “zero-car households,” whose residents prefer renting over homeownership, biking over driving, and taking public transit or renting a vehicle instead of owning a car.

To that end, the project will include 69 parking spaces for cars, or one space for every two units, storage space for 142 bikes, and an on-site bicycle repair station. Eden also plans for non-car owning residents to receive incentives, such as discounts for T passes, the Hubway bike sharing program, and Zipcar, a short-term car rental service. Residents could also receive credits for Uber, the smartphone-directed ride-hailing service that has been opposed by some regulators and taxi companies.

Most of the units are for small families or single people, with 83 studios and 39 one-bedroom apartments planned. Sixteen two-bedrooms are also planned, along with 7,100 square feet of retail space, slightly lower than the 8,000 originally mentioned in a letter filed with city authorities in April. About one-sixth of the units will be designated as affordable.

3A view up Brighton Avenue of the proposed development at 89 Brighton Ave. in Boston.Prellwitz Chilinski Associates

Currently, a Budget rental lot sits on the site, as well as a multi-family house, a three-story commercial building, nine Zipcar parking spots, according to the filing. Demolition is set to start in May 2016, according to the developer’s timeline, and the project is slated to be complete by June 2017. An unspecified number of Zipcar spots will be preserved, and three electric-car charging stations will be added.

The project’s cost wasn’t mentioned in the filing, but the Real Reporter, a trade publication, previously reported that two of the parcels the site will occupy were bought for $6.2 million.