By Marc Levy
Friday, September 25, 2026
A rendering from the past year of discussions about a hotel-and-homes project around the Harriet Jacobs House in Cambridge’s Harvard Square. (Image: Board of Zoning Appeal)
Developers at the Harriet Jacobs House in Harvard Square nearly walked away Thursday from a hotel-and-homes project that won over its neighbors – so exasperated by questioning at the Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal that they’d revert to a residential-only project that the same neighbors had been desperate to stop.
Instead, 17 Story LLC and lawyer Patrick Barrett were pulled back by pleas from board members that they were only seeking clarity from a legal opinion. “We have to do our due diligence,” chair Steven Ng said.
“Okay, mister chair, you win,” Barrett said, agreeing to return Oct. 16.
In the residential-only version of the project at Mount Auburn and Story streets, 17 Story LLC needs no special permissions to build a building of condominiums 85 feet high and only 5 feet from neighbors unhappy over the loss of privacy and sunlight. The developers were before the board to try to move the project farther from neighbors – nearly 14 feet – by pushing it to the sidewalk. That goes against zoning that advocates for a 5-foot setback, but nearby buildings such as the square’s post office building don’t have setbacks either.
With a variance from the board, the project would have a three-floor, 65-guest-room hotel at the base, topped by five floors holding 60 condominiums. Some homes would be deeded as affordable.