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The resistance seemingly goes beyond the typical not-in-my-backyard sentiment that has stymied developments in the past. Several neighbors who spoke with the Globe, those who filed letters against the project, as well as city leaders say trust has eroded among residents who see the development as another sign of a quickly changing city that has some of the highest housing costs in the nation.

Luxury housing, residents say, has been prioritized over affordable housing. Studios and smaller apartments cater to transient students and young professionals, leaving limited opportunities for families to stay in the neighborhood and for locals to build wealth through home ownership.

The developers have pushed back. “In the midst of a severe housing crisis, with lingering interest rate challenges and some of the highest construction costs in the country, we have worked with the City and the BPD to address community feedback,” said David MacKay, development director at Weston in a statement. MacKay declined an on-the-record phone interview.

The proposed development at 80-100 Smith St. would have two buildings, one eight stories and the other 13. The buildings would be a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, and 33 of the units would be allotted for affordable housing.

Boston Housing Authority Administrator Kenzie Bok and Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan both submitted letters asking the BPDA to table the project until there’s been enough community outreach.

“Real engagement takes time, resources, and proactive outreach of the proponent, none of which has been present in the neighborhood during my time representing Mission Hill on this Project,” Durkan wrote.

Similarly, Bok wrote: “It is important to us that low-income residents be treated with the same respect and consideration in these processes as wealthier neighbors might receive.”

MacKay said his company had “conducted itself with the utmost respect and professionalism, reaching out early and often to every community stakeholder, addressing input and making responsive changes.”

Most recently, MacKay said the company offered the Mission Hill Tenant Task Force an additional $50,000 to support residents’ financial needs.

Developers first submitted their intent to build housing and office space in 2004. Boston city officials accepted the proposal but shortly after, a local resident filed a zoning lawsuit that was ultimately dismissed in 2008. By then, economic conditions under the Great Recession stalled the plans indefinitely.

In the following years, there were multiple attempts to develop the space, including a plan that would have seen Harvard University lease part of the new building (Harvard currently leases 90 Smith St.), but that also fell through. A series of stops-and-starts and expired permits over the next decade left St. Alphonsus Hall vacant and decaying.

Some residents said the 20-year-long saga is reminiscent of urban renewal in Mission Hill in the 1960s, when city officials demolished what they called “blighted neighborhoods” to make room for new housing, displacing communities of color.

“I’m kind of fed up,” said Willie Pearl Clark, a local activist and the head of the Mission Main Tenant Task Force who submitted a letter in opposition to the development in February. “I can’t even tell you the years that I have been fighting for this community.”

The building was ultimately demolished in 2023, much to the dismay of neighbors such as Clark who called it a “classic example of demolition by neglect,” in which a building is purposely left rotting until it needs to be torn down. Clark is opposed to the housing development, citing affordability issues and a lack of trust with the developer.

MacKay, the developer, said when they initially purchased the site, they wanted to build atop the structure to keep the original facade.

Structural engineers looked into salvaging the hall, but found it too expensive. Documents from 2005 submitted to the BPDA state that to renovate just 34 feet of the hall would cost approximately $6 million. St. Alphonsus Hall was over 29,000 square feet of space and required new floors and additional underground parking.

“We had no interest in demolishing that building during our permitting process as it was an emotional issues for many in the community,” MacKay said over text. Had the lawsuit in 2005 not dragged out the process, he added, the development would have been completed already.

The reality these days is that more housing is needed — residents, officials, and even developers can all agree on that. By one estimate from the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, Massachusetts needs to produce 200,000 new units through 2030.

To be sure, not all Mission Hill residents oppose the development.

“I’m a person who really thinks that the housing crisis is only solvable by building more housing of any kind,” said Christopher Freiss, who first came to Boston for college and has made Mission Hill his home for the past two decades.

“If it has granite underneath it, build it 90 stories high everywhere,” he said. Freiss pointed to cities such as Houston, which loosened housing regulations and were able to keep prices lower. The Pew Charitable Trusts has also highlighted Minneapolis for land use reforms like eliminating minimum parking requirements among other changes, which helped increase the housing stock 12 percent from 2017 to 2022, while rents grew by just one percent.

Martin Beinborn, president of Community Alliance of Mission Hill, said while the community wants and needs housing, cities and developers need to prioritize the opportunity for both affordability and homeownership, not buildings that “may end up another student dormitory sooner or later,” he said.

There are also concerns the proposed development would compete with the historic Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. “This is kind of a centerpiece of Mission Hill, really destroying the centerpiece of our neighborhood,” Beinborn said. Down the road on Tremont Street, other apartment buildings are similarly sized to the proposed development.

For now, the project appears to be stuck in limbo. It’s unclear when it will be brought to the BPDA for final approval, but the developer expects to discuss the project at the next January meeting.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed Kenzie Bok’s title as BHA CEO and Kate Bennet’s as a BPDA administrator.

This story was produced by the Globe’s Money, Power, Inequality team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter here.

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Esmy Jimenez can be reached at esmy.jimenez@globe.com. Follow her @esmyjimenez.