A captain of private equity appears to have bought into Harvard Square, the scene of his college years, while Somerville has approved three projects around Union Square.

Plenty has been going on in development this spring, including an environmentally focused building planned for North Point’s Parcel U, a slew of MIT moves and more on BioMed Realty’s push into Somerville.

It was as if nothing had changed in six months: On Thursday the Board of Zoning Appeal declined to approve a comprehensive permit for a 2072 Massachusetts Ave. affordable development five blocks north of Porter Square, citing its height.

Harvard Square’s Garage mall would be remade under a proposal by owners Trinity Property Management with expanded restaurant and entertainment space below ground; street-level shops and eateries with more access from sidewalks; and offices on five stories overhead. 

The “missing middle” zoning intended to bring more multifamily housing to the city got a negative recommendation Tuesday from the Planning Board. Members voted 5-3, delivering a blow to the proposal, though it will continue on with a City Council committee hearing at a date yet to be set. 

Changes in the all-affordable building proposed for 2072 Massachusetts Ave. didn’t change how the Planning Board felt about it, and members voted to affirm its endorsement of the North Cambridge project to the Board of Zoning Appeal, where it goes next.

Though the Union Square stop on the green line is expected to open as early as October, there’s no sign yet of elevator access from its neighboring parcel, which got its building permit Thursday and could be under construction into the fall of 2024.

An assessment of a long-empty triple-decker in Lafayette Square is expected to be complete within a couple of months, leading to a plan on its conversion into affordable housing for families.

A demolition application for a Strawberry Hill property lists it as “currently unoccupied,” but Ferahnaz Kahyaoglu lives there – and the owner knows it, if only from some of the several lawsuits she has filed since moving in two owners ago.

The hyper complicated Alexandria Real Estate Equities zoning petition that passed in 2020 brought together recreational land the city has wanted for three decades and made room for an entire Eversource electrical substation. But one player says it was left out, and is suing.