Plans for eight townhomes, including two affordable units, are being aired before the Wellesley Design Review Board later this month for 10 Railroad St.
The three-story development, if approved, would rise at the current parking lot off of Linden Street alongside the railroad tracks near the Wellesley Square train station. This is located behind the Takara restaurant and Goddard School, and just east of the 35-unit Terrazza condo complex across the street.
The 10 Railroad St. property, along with the 151-159 Linden Street commercial property, changed hands in a multimillion dollar deal last summer.
The development at 10 Railroad St. would be the second proposed housing plan in town under the MBTA Communities Law, which Wellesley complied with in 2024 and allows by right development to encourage new housing near public transportation. The first such project proposed is on Laurel Avenue across from the Wellesley Hills train station.
Wellesley is seeing an influx of multi-tenant housing, both spurred by state actions like the MBTA Communities Law and Affordable Homes Act, and as a result of oodles of office properties changing hands or going on the market. The town also commissioned a strategic housing plan designed to help it strategize for more diverse housing.
The 10 Railroad St. project, to feature varied brick veneer facing Railroad St., is located within the Industrial A Zoning District and the MBTA Overlay District. The applicant intends to file for Site Plan Review, which would meaning going through the Zoning Board of Appeals.
According to the applicant, each three-bedroom unit will have its own outdoor space surrounded by an 6-foot fence, to create separation from the railroad tracks. Units will have their own garages in the basement (room for two vehicles in market rate units, one vehicle in affordable ones). The development will be fully electric, and include support for possible solar panels. Units boast about 3,800 sq. ft. of space; the affordable units lack a third floor deck found in the other units.
Pricing has not been revealed.
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