Two months after pro-housing candidates swept Brookline's Select Board and Town Meeting elections, a pipeline of multifamily developments stretching from Brookline Village to Chestnut Hill is moving forward on multiple fronts simultaneously.

Banker & Tradesman reported Sunday, July 19, that political gains by Brookline's YIMBY forces are prompting town officials to pursue what the trade publication called the most aggressive housing-production strategies in the town's recent history. Reporter Steve Adams highlighted projects by Claremont Companies and City Realty Group alongside the town's own plans for publicly owned land.

The momentum traces back to Thursday, May 7, when voters elected Amanda Zimmerman and Anthony Buono to the Select Board. Both were endorsed by Brookline for Everyone, the pro-housing advocacy group Zimmerman co-founded. She is the first woman on the board in more than three years. The group's Town Meeting candidates won at a 95.5% clip, including full five-seat sweeps in eight precincts.

At a June Select Board meeting, Planning Director Kara Brewton laid out development priorities spanning multiple commercial corridors, according to Brookline.News. Among the targets: the Centre Street parking lot in Coolidge Corner, where a prior committee recommended converting the town lot into a walkable plaza with housing and a parking garage. The previous Select Board never issued a request for information to developers. Brewton suggested revisiting the project this summer.

In Brookline Village, Brewton identified two more town-owned lots. One, behind the Caffe Nero and Starbucks on Kent Street, sits adjacent to two properties for sale; she floated a public-private partnership combining the parcels. A second lot on Kent Street near the MBTA station had been slated for affordable senior housing before stalling over parking concerns. A subsequent town study found adequate parking supply in the village but poor wayfinding and pricing.

Private developers are moving in parallel. Claremont Companies is seeking approval for 150 apartments in a 12-story building at 654 Brookline Ave., according to Banker & Tradesman. At 40 Kent Street in Brookline Village, a redesigned five-story project now proposes 116 units, up from 79, with 15% set aside as affordable under the town's inclusionary zoning bylaw. Town Meeting has already rezoned the Chestnut Hill Commercial Area along Route 9 near the Newton border, clearing the way for City Realty Group's mixed-use redevelopment of the office park there.

The fiscal case is part of the pitch. Deputy Town Administrator Melissa Goff told the board that Brookline faces a projected $25 million to $28 million structural budget gap once override funds expire in 2029. Brewton said every major project built in Brookline over the past 15 years has been a net positive for town finances, even accounting for added school capacity.

"Even in a worst case scenario, new apartments are still a net positive to the town," Zimmerman said at the June meeting, according to Brookline.News.

Banker & Tradesman noted the contrast with Cambridge, where officials are debating scaling back their own upzoning reforms. The town's Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee is expected to complete its final report by fall 2026, which will likely inform the board's development priorities going forward.

The rezoning of 26 Pleasant Street, which would allow a seven-story, 103-unit building with up to 15 affordable homes, was postponed from spring to fall Town Meeting to give the developer and community more time to refine the plan.