The Boston Redevelopment Authority approved plans today for a 197-unit apartment complex near the Southie convention center.

Hub developer Cresset Development and New York-based real estate investment manager Clarion Partners will put up a pair of six-story buildings at 411 D St. with mid-priced rentals geared toward workers.

The approval comes after the developers reached a mitigation agreement with tenants of a seven-story condo building next door at 437 D St.

Some of the lower-level unit owners were concerned the new construction would block their views.

“I didn’t think I’d be in this position today to want to see this project go forward,” Gary Godinho, a resident and condo trustee, said at the BRA board meeting.

“But I want to thank (Cresset president) Ed Nardi personally for coming to a compromise that myself and other residents can certainly live with, and we look forward to welcoming them as neighbors.”

Nardi told the BRA board that “once we became engaged in a dialogue with these concerned groups, the process allowed us, with certain revisions to our project, to substantially mitigate their concerns.”

The $60 million project involves tearing down three warehouse-type structures on the 1.4-acre parcel that Cresset bought last year for $7.3 million.

The complex will have covered parking on the first floor.

The project will include 26 affordable apartments and 26 small-scale “innovation units” that the Menino administration has been pushing to accommodate young professionals moving to the area.

Architect David Manfredi said the mid-rise buildings — which will stretch along D Street for nearly 500 feet with ground-floor retail — are designed to “have a sense of the organic growth of the city.”

The facades would feature brick bases and metal paneling on the upper levels.

Ray Pickup, a South Boston resident and member of a building trades union, said the project will be a “much-needed” upgrade for that stretch of D Street between Southie’s traditional residential section and the growing waterfront district.

“That area’s been a wasteland, it’s just industrial buildings,” he said. “It needs a community down there.”

Manfredi said the project’s south building was set back by 25 feet from the adjacent parcel because a taller hotel may be constructed there along with a possible expansion of the convention center.

“We want it to be in the scale of D Street as it is re-imagined over time and makes that important connection to the waterfront,” he said.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1061124258

By Greg Turner | Article Courtesy of:  http://www.bostonherald.com