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A London-based academic housing operator that plans a billion-dollar development pipeline in Boston is seeking approvals for a 205,500-square-foot residential building in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.

The 500-unit “flagship” project at 1252-1268 Boylston St. is Scape’s first development proposal in the U.S., after developing $3 billion worth of properties in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia containing 12,500 beds. The company opened its U.S. headquarters in Fort Point this year and named Andrew Flynn, a former Related Beal executive, as its CEO.

The proposal comes less than three weeks after Boston officials eliminated minimum square-footage requirements for multifamily developments. The two-year compact living pilot applies to all projects with 10 or more units. Developers also qualify for reduced parking requirements at properties located near transit stations.

Details on the size of the apartments and ground-floor retail segment will not be available until a more detailed filing later this month, a Scape spokeswoman said. But Scape has said that its previous projects range from 250-square-foot studios to four-bedroom units. The company caters to undergraduates, graduate students and researchers affiliated with higher ed institutions.

The new housing model is being eyed closely in the Fenway, where the city and community groups have fought displacement of apartment-dwellers by students living off-campus.

“The hope is if the project is done right, it would begin to pull students out of housing in the Fenway. Their goal is to undercut the existing rents in the marketplace,” said Richard Giordano, director of policy and community planning for the Fenway Community Development Corp.

At a recent meeting of Fenway residents, Scape representatives emphasized the benefits to the community of its buy-and-hold business model, Giordano said. Scape employees staff the properties full-time.

“It answers a lot of the questions with the fact that they’re owner-managers, not flippers,” Giordano said. “They have 24-7 staff, people on-site who aren’t called RA’s, but they behave that way. They basically stay on top of everybody. It’s much more accountable than the housing that exists in the neighborhood now.”

The 1252-1268 Boylston St. site is occupied by a low-rise 43,000-square-foot office and retail building, but on the edge of a row of luxury residential towers including the Viridian developed by The Abbey Group of Boston.

“Scape perceives the need for graduate academic accommodations in the Fenway neighborhood as particularly acute – and often overlooked – and, therefore, the project will include environments to serve the graduate-level scholars driving the City’s research and intellectual exploration,” executives wrote in a letter of intent to the Boston Planning and Development Agency.

Detailed plans will be submitted by the end of November. The project requires dimensional and use variances from the Zoning Board of Appeal.

Scape signed a 99-year ground lease for 1252 Boylston St. in July, according to Suffolk County Registry of Deeds records. The firm said it’s in negotiations for up to four sites in Boston totaling 3,000 beds.