Boston PIC Unanimously Approves Five Public-Way Petitions at June 25 Hearing

BOSTON — June 25, 2026 — Boston's Public Improvement Commission unanimously approved six actions at its June 25 hearing, including streetscape improvements tied to affordable housing and mixed-use development, a flood-resilience air rights transfer for the Children's Museum, and new wayfinding signs in Brighton. The commission cleared specific repairs for Phase Two of the Mildred Haley Apartments at 265 to 279 Center Street in Roxbury, filed jointly by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Boston Housing Authority, and approved both a pedestrian easement and specific repairs for a 21-unit mixed-use building at 1905 to 1911 Center Street in West Roxbury by CAD Builders LLC. The most discussed item was a vertical discontinuance of air rights along Congress and Sleeper streets in South Boston, allowing the Children's Museum to install flood-mitigation concrete shelves and waterproofing; an appraisal by CBRE set the fair market value of those air rights at $70,000. Public commenter Todd pressed the commission on whether the required city council surplus-legislation process would delay construction on Sleeper Street, planned to begin in July, with PIC legal counsel Chong Lu of the Law Department acknowledging that the legislative path "is going to take a little bit of time." Brighton Main Streets Executive Director Kelly McGrath closed the hearing by requesting approval of two neighborhood wayfinding signs — "Welcome to Brighton Center" and "Welcome to Oak Square" — in traffic landings along Washington Street and Cambridge Street.