Braintree Planning Board Orders Draft Conditions for 752-Unit Trammell Crow Project

BRAINTREE -- January 13, 2026, Braintree Planning Board advances $230 million Trammell Crow apartment project toward conditional approval while voting 5-0 to recommend a new Dover Amendment zoning rule to Town Council. At the January 13 session, the five-member board directed Planning Director Peter Matchak to draft conditions of approval for Braintree Apartments Ventures LLC's 752-unit redevelopment of the former Armstrong factory site at 10 Plain Street, continuing the public hearing to February 10 pending a floodplain study expected by late February and a Diagnostic Team Review of three rail crossings due for public release January 15. Fiscal peer reviewer Karl Seidman of MIT projects the project will generate approximately $3 million in building permit fees and $733,000 to over $1.1 million in annual net tax revenue at full build-out. Member Robert M. Kane pressed the applicant to guarantee that both vehicular access points, Plain Street and the John Mahar driveway, be operational by the end of Phase 1 construction regardless of whether Phase 2 proceeds, saying "there's a chance that second phase doesn't happen." The board also voted 5-0 to send a favorable recommendation to the Town Council on Order 25-070, a zoning text amendment that would require site plan review for any development claiming exemption under MGL Chapter 40A, Section 3, the Dover Amendment; Attorney Michael Modestino, representing a client with a pending daycare application, urged the board to "do this carefully" before endorsing the change.