City Planners Propose Allowing 18-Story Housing Developments in Central Square

The Cambridge Community Development Department presented their recommendations to upzone Central Square up to 18 stories to the City Council on Thursday, wrapping up the first phase of a two-year planning process to reimagine one of the city’s top commercial hubs.

Currently, Massachusetts Avenue in Central is zoned to allow 55-foot buildings — about five stories — while buildings up to 80 feet are allowed with special permission from the city. The upzoning, which is preliminary, would allow residential buildings to stretch far above the currently permitted height.

With the planning process, the city is hoping to incentivize new development that will preserve the area’s identity as a multicultural hub while adding new units to check the city’s ballooning housing costs.

The goal of the process, according to Director of Community Planning Melissa Peters, was to collect input from all kinds of residents on the area’s future “to make a recommendation that really helps us address our housing crisis while keeping Central Square unique and preserving and enhancing it.”

CDD plans to use community input to draft zoning language by early spring 2025, with the goal of having it considered by the Council late spring.

The proposal comes amid a movement within the City Council to upzone parts of Cambridge to encourage residential construction and decrease housing costs.

In September, the City Council moved forward on a plan to eliminate single-family zoning by allowing six-story multifamily buildings to be built throughout the city. The Council also recently upzoned the Alewife area to allow for thousands of new housing units.

Cambridge’s attempts to overhaul its zoning code and spur residential construction has put it at the forefront of a national movement to combat high housing costs.

Housing costs in urban centers have skyrocketed in the past 20 years, largely due to a lack of new construction. Now, some cities are racing to fill the gap by reforming zoning and permitting regulations.

But some residents are asking the city to proceed with caution, warning that overzealous changes to the zoning code could damage Cambridge’s character.

Former City Council candidate Dan Totten supported the proposal but expressed concern about the displacement of long-standing cultural spaces.

He called one-story buildings in Central Square which host popular local businesses like The Middle East “sitting ducks,” pointing out that the upzoning ultimately incentivizes developers to demolish short buildings and replace them with taller, more profitable ones.

“On one level, they’re the ideal place to build this new tower. On the other level, this is a cultural institution, right?” he said. “It’s a paradox,”

Councilor Catherine “Cathie” Zusy suggested requiring developers to subsidize the cultural or retail space on the ground floor of any high buildings.

But Cambridge senior urban designer Brian Gregory said that allowing increased development in highly-trafficked areas like Central can minimize the potential negative impacts of adding density.

He pointed out that squares like Central, with lots of transit options and pre-existing density, are already designed to accommodate many people.

“When you’re looking to try to accommodate growth in a way that’s the least impactful, in terms of externalities such as traffic and parking and others, I think there are opportunities to grow in these areas,” he said.

Across Greater Boston, government officials have launched multiple efforts since the pandemic to rezone main squares and transit centers to increase density.

Cambridge’s Affordable Housing Overlay was amended 2023 to allow for residential developments of up to 15 stories in Central, Harvard, and Porter Squares, provided the buildings are 100 percent affordable.

In 2021, the Massachusetts legislature passed the MBTA Communities Act, forcing towns with or adjacent to MBTA service to allow more multifamily housing near transit stations. Several towns have fiercely resisted the rule.

In Boston, too, planners are currently rolling out the “Squares + Streets” program, meant to rezone main squares in neighborhoods across the city to accommodate more density, and ultimately add badly needed housing.

—Staff writer Benjamin Isaac can be reached at benjamin.isaac@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @benjaminisaac_1.

—Staff writer Jack R. Trapanick can be reached at jack.trapanick@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @jackrtrapanick.