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Teele Square hotel at the Pit

Updated September 26, 2026

What's happening

The Zoning Board of Appeals holds a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, September 30 at 6 p.m. on the first concrete proposal in about a year for the Teele Square "Pit," the fenced hole at 1154 Broadway that has sat undeveloped for roughly fifteen years (ZBA notice; Somerville YIMBY newsletter, Sept 16). Ward 7 Councilor Emily Hardt told constituents on September 10 that the owner and developer, Binoj Pradhan, is proposing a Teele Square Hotel and asking for seven variances, including one to build to eight stories; residents get two minutes each at the hearing, and written comment to the board closed at 7:30 p.m. on September 24 (Councilor Emily Hardt newsletter, Sept 10).

The posted notice counts differently. It lists ten hardship variances at 1154 Broadway, filed by Adam Dash & Associates on behalf of Laxmi N. Pradhan and Jharana Pradhan, all in the Mid-Rise 4 district: relief from the required GreenScore (SZO 4.2.9.a), the landscape buffer (10.3.6.a.i), building height and the number of stories for a commercial building (both 4.2.9.c), a nonconforming rear setback and the secondary front setback standards (both 4.2.9.b), a driveway in the frontage area (4.2.15.c.ii), the sidewalk width standard (4.2.16.a.i), and two curb-cut rules (4.2.16.b.ii and 4.2.16.b.iv.a). The notice does not use the words "hotel" or "Teele Square"; Hardt's newsletter is the source for both, and the record in our sources does not say how the seven and the ten reconcile.

The story

MR4 tops out well below eight stories, which is why the height and stories requests are hardship variances rather than special permits, and a variance under state law (M.G.L. 40A Section 10) requires the board to find that the lot's shape, soil or topography creates a hardship not shared by the district generally. A long-vacant excavation at a busy corner is the kind of site that argument is made for, and also the kind of site where a board that grants ten variances at once invites an abutter appeal. The Pit's history has been silence: Hardt's account is of "about a year of quiet that left many people asking, 'What is happening with the Pit?'" and no earlier filing for the site appears in our captured agendas.

The hearing lands the same month the city is asking Davis Square, a mile east, how much residential height it will accept (Davis Square: the plan and the tower that didn't happen), and nine days after the ZBA cancelled its September 16 meeting for lack of business (agenda). The board is also short a member: the city is recruiting one, with applications due October 30 (city notice).

What's next

  • September 24, 2026, 7:30 p.m. — written comment deadline, per Hardt (passed).
  • September 30, 2026, 6 p.m. — ZBA public hearing on the 1154 Broadway variances, on Zoom, alongside cases at 61 Boston Street and 333 Highland Avenue; see Before the boards.
  • If the variances are granted, site plan approval and design review follow; if denied, the Pit stays a pit unless the owner comes back with a project that fits MR4 or waits for a rezoning.
  • October 30, 2026 — applications close for the vacant ZBA seat.