When developers first came to E&J Auto Tech, saying they wanted to tear down the building that houses the auto repair shop and put up a six-story apartment building, owner Enrique Nuñez got nervous.

But he was quickly assured his shop would be relocated.

"I'm going to benefit because they're going to find us another location,” Nuñez said in Spanish, standing in his garage on Washington Street in Boston's Jamaica Plain. “Because of this I support the project."

Nuñez said his shop will move a few blocks over to a similarly sized lot on Columbus Avenue, and that means greater visibility.

"It's a good thing for the neighborhood,” he said of the development. “With a project like this the neighborhood will look completely different. This is progress for practically all of Jamaica Plain."

Mechanic Jose Mendez saws a piece of pipe for an exhaust system at E&J Auto Tech on Washington Street in Jamaica Plain. The repair shop will be moved to a location on Columbus Avenue to make way for a 76-unit development at 3200 Washington St. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Egleston Square straddles the border between Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. It's a heavily Hispanic area that has seen far less development than other parts of JP.

But that's about to change.

A Boston Redevelopment Authority map shows seven separate housing developments on the horizon for Washington Street. 3200 Washington St., which won BRA approval at last month’s board meeting, is the first of several mixed-use buildings -- some with a few dozen apartments, some with more than 200 -- likely to appear in the years ahead.

Developers of 3200 Washington St. want to level two structures: a vacant plumbing supply building and the small building occupied by E&J Auto Tech. A six-story mixed-use building would go up on the land, with a business on the ground floor and 76 apartments above. Sixty-four of the rental units would be market rate, while 12 others would be affordable.

The developer also plans to rehab an adjacent triple-decker for an additional six affordable apartments.

An abandoned apartment building on Montebello Street in Jamaica Plain will be rehabilitated, bringing six new affordable units to Egleston Square. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Developers say the number of proposed on-site affordable units is nearly twice the 13 percent required of new developments in Boston. But some neighbors want the entire six-story building to be affordable.

"If it's going to be built it should be affordable,” said 17-year-old Egleston Square resident Marvin Mendoza, "because I don't want to see my community change at all.”

He lives with his family in a nearby apartment. He said their landlord is raising the rent and it will force the family out of the neighborhood.

Mendoza sees 3200 Washington St. as part of the problem.

“You're not going to see people like me ... in Boston anymore,” he said. “We're all going to be all spread out.” He added: “To me this community is more than just a home -- it's everything. I love this place."

An artist's rendering of Washington Street (Courtesy of Rode Architects Inc. via BRA)

3200 Washington resonates with the community because it's the first development Egleston Square has seen in years. The six-story building would change the physical profile of the neighborhood, causing some in the area to complain about possible shade issues.

Shade is the last concern of Egleston resident Rita Alcaráz, who says the new developments will force out people of color. Alcaráz said Latinos will have to commute to maintenance and restaurant jobs at places like 3200 Washington.

"And who's going to work here? Us,” Alcaráz said in Spanish. “Because white people aren't going to work here for 9, 10, 11 dollars an hour. So we'll have to commute from far away to come and work in Egleston."

Another sticking point is the very definition of affordability. Most of the affordable units at 3200 Washington St. will be for those earning 70 percent of area median income -- about $69,000 for a family of four.

Opponents of the project say area median income is out of touch with the reality of the neighborhood. They used census data to estimate incomes for families renting in Egleston, concluding that new apartments should be reserved for families making $26,000 a year.

The census tract that includes 3200 Washington lists a median household income of $66,477. But it's a different story when broken down by race. For Latinos, the median income is $37,125; for whites it’s $92,083.

“This is an area of poor people, working people, but we work for low salaries,” resident Alcaráz said. “The majority of us have two jobs to pay our rent. And so you come and build apartments for people who earn $60,000 or $70,000 a year. Only in our dreams can we afford that."