Developer Joe Hassell, who won BPDA and zoning-board approval in 2016 for a 32-unit, five-story building at 55 West 5 St. is now asking the city for permission to put up a 50-unit, six-story building instead.

Hassell is seeking to take advantage of new zoning along the Dorchester Avenue corridor that lets developers build taller buildings than they could otherwise in exchange for adding units aimed at the "middle class," or people making up to 120% of the area median income. That is currently about $120,000 a year for a family of four. In a letter to the BPDA, Hassell's lawyer writes that in exchange for tearing up its earlier approval, Hassell would designate two of the units for such residents.

The number of "affordable" units for people making up to about 80% of the area median income would increase from the four approved in 2016 to seven - but that is because the expanded building would still have to to meet the city's requirement that 13% of all units be "affordable." The rest of the units would be rented or sold at market rates.

Hassell had originall planned to call the building SOBO Place, but dropped that propose monicker early on.

55 West 5 Street notice of project change (17M PDF).