Community Builders and Partners to Renovate, Expand Mixed-Income Apartments in Boston
Community Builders, in a joint venture, plans to renovate 215 existing apartments and construct new apartment buildings.
Image courtesy of www.bostonhousing.org.
Boston—The Boston Housing Authority has tapped the Community Builders (TCB), Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. (JPNDC) and Urban Edge to develop 125 Amory St. in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. Together, Amory Street Partners, which is comprised of the three nonprofits, have proposed the renovation of the existing 215 apartments for senior residents on the site, as well as the construction of new buildings with 294 new apartment units.
The partners have proposed a reconfigured site plan that introduces five new buildings and new street connections to the surrounding neighborhood. Of the 294 new apartments, 110 will be affordable. Urban Edge will develop one of the buildings with 48 affordable units.
The remaining buildings, to be developed by TCB, will be designated for a mixed-income population and will include a total of 62 affordable units. The improved property will also include green and recreation space, along with new infrastructure and parking.
TCB, JPNDC and Urban Edge will serve as co-developers and owners for the venture, while TCB will be its property manager. The partners each have completed developments in Boston, and together they have delivered 1,430 units of affordable and mixed-income housing in the past five years. Amory Street Partners is an extension of the partnership working on the redevelopment of Jackson Square a few blocks away from the BHA’s Amory Street property.
According to the developers, the proposed plan aligns with the city’s goal of housing preservation and new housing production to accommodate Boston’s growing population and soaring rents. Axiometrics reports that in Boston, more than 57,000 jobs were added to the economy from May 2014 to May 2015, and the 6,579 new units delivered or identified for delivery from 2014 to 2016 in the region is less than one-fourth the amount of new supply in other major Northeast markets, such as New York and Washington, D.C. The relatively little new supply and high occupancy rates are thus allowing Boston landlords to push rents.
