A developer wants to replace what it describes as “underutilized and distressed properties” on 1.3 acres behind the South Bay Mall in Dorchester with three buildings containing hundreds of homes as well as office and retail.

Willow Baker LLC, an entity that Boston attorney Adam Sarbaugh controls, filed a letter of intent with the Boston Planning and Development Agency that calls for some 239 housing units in a trio of “distinct buildings” totaling more than 208,000 square feet.

The units would include those for “compact-sized living,” a reference to a city pilot program that encourages small apartments on the theory that they’ll go for smaller rents and prices (condos are also part of the mix, per the letter).

The developer would also improve the area’s streetscape with new and wider sidewalks as well as publicly accessible open space. There would be “neighborhood-serving retail” and office space too. More detailed plans are in the offing.

The project would join other major ones in the same area of Dorchester, including one that added several hundred apartments to the South Bay Mall site and another that would do exactly the same on 4 acres next to the shopping center. Meanwhile, farther up in Dot, other projects are coming together, including the redevelopment of the Boston Globe’s former headquarters and a proposal for the old Channel 56 site, both off Morrissey Boulevard.