Arlington Redevelopment Board Approves Grafton Street Housing, Presses Heights Storefront Owner

ARLINGTON — December 15, 2025 — Arlington Redevelopment Board approves 18 Grafton Street housing project and presses Heights storefront owner on long-stalled repairs. The board voted unanimously December 15 to approve a five-unit multifamily building at 18 Grafton Street, down from an original six-unit proposal, with conditions including retention of three walls of an existing garage structure and a reduced vegetated buffer in lieu of the standard bylaw requirement. Chair Rachel Zenberry directed the Department of Planning and Community Development to confirm that vacant storefront fees are actively accruing against the owners of 1306-1308 Massachusetts Avenue — a property boarded with unpainted plywood for more than two years — and to require the owner to appear at the January 12 meeting with a timeline for installing storefront windows within 60 to 90 days; failure to do so will trigger a reopening of the special permit. The board also approved new storefront glazing for a Verizon tenant at 455 Mass Ave. and continued two other hearings — including a fourth hearing for a mixed-use project at 1513-1519 Mass Ave. — to January 26 and February 9, with unresolved concerns about a transformer vault location and fourth-floor massing remaining the principal obstacles to approval.