Last updated on June 2, 2018
Two local development corporations held a groundbreaking on May 31st to celebrate the beginning of construction for an apartment building of 47 affordable units.
The 56,290 square foot, 4-story, apartment building at 61 Heath St., is a joint venture by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) and the Back of the Hill Community Development Corporation (BOTHCDC).
“This is the fourth joint project that BOTHCDC and JPNDC have undertaken and we are excited to be bringing new life to part of the neighborhood that has lain fallow for over 40 years,” said JPNDC Executive Director Richard Thal via press release.
The apartments are being built on vacant land on the Jamaica Plain and Mission Hill border near Jackson Square, which is adjacent to the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments.
Through the years the site was occupied by tenement housing, residences and light commercial and industrial uses, including a bakery and a tin shop, said the JPNDC from research using Sanborn Maps. The Crossroads Tavern opened in 1945 on the site, and there have been other neighborhood shops, including a variety store owned by longtime neighborhood activist Julia Martin and her husband. But the site has been vacant for more than 40 years.
The apartment building will include 47 affordable units with affordability ranges from 30% to 70% area median income. Sixteen of the units will be reserved for Project Based Section 8 or Mass Rental Voucher Program rental subsidies, two units will be permanently reserved for clients of the HUD 811 Project Based Rental Assistance Program and two units for clients of the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services. Twenty units will not have project-based rental subsidy support, said a JPNDC press release. Seven units will be for moderate-income households, and seven of the total units will be accessible in regards to sensory impairment, or mobility.
