Hotelier Revises Plans for Complex at Prudential Center

BOSTON-A group of local developers, Robin Brown, Julian Cohen and Stephen R. Weiner, scaled back their plans for a hotel, commercial and residential complex at the Prudential Center here. The initial plans for the site were criticized by a number of local groups.

The master plan for the area calls for housing on the site and the Boston Redevelopment Authority needs the approval of the Prudential Project Advisory Committee to allow that plan to be changed. As a rejection of the original proposal, the Committee refused to endorse a change in the master plan.

In the revised plan, the developers, who also developed the Chestnut Hill Mall, reduced the size of the proposed hotel from 200 rooms to 168 and increased the number of residential units to 58 apartments and 48 condominiums. The 13-story, 431,300-square-foot development plan, which will also have two floors of retail space, calls for 10% of the housing units to be set aside as affordable housing.

The 22-member Committee will vote on the proposal at the beginning of next month. The approval process will reportedly go on much longer than that, as negotiations between the developers and the Committee will be ongoing.