City, State Celebrate New Housing and Retail Space Along Blue Hill Ave. Corridor
December 1, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — City officials, Governor Deval Patrick, and Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation today celebrated the continued revitalization of the Blue Hill Avenue corridor at a ribbon cutting ceremony for Nuestra’s $22 million mixed-use development at the former Kasanof Bakery site in Roxbury, dedicated today as the Thomas I. Atkins Apartments.
Named for a local activist and the City’s first black at-large city councilor in the 20th century, the development adds 48 new units of affordable rental housing and 3,650 square-feet of commercial space to the 2.5-acre site that had previously been vacant for several decades.
“The Atkins Apartments adds much-needed housing and retail space to this block, but even more so – this building replaces a void in the community that we’ve been working to fill for many years. It signifies the latest success in our ongoing revitalization of the Blue Hill Corridor,” Mayor Menino said about today’s ribbon cutting event. “I want to thank Nuestra Comunidad for their commitment to the community, and I want to thank the neighbors who have worked so hard to make this dream a reality.”
The development was made possible, in part, by a contribution of more than $4 million from the City’s Department of Neighborhood Development and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, as well as $6.7 million in affordable housing program subsidies from the state, including $3.8 million in tax credit assistance recovery funds from the federal government.
“The Thomas Atkins Apartments will further strengthen this community and serve as a long-lasting tribute to the life of a man who worked so hard to ensure equal opportunity for all,” said Governor Patrick. “Massachusetts is leading the nation out of the recession thanks to investments like this which help us put people to work and expand housing and economic development opportunities in neighborhoods across the Commonwealth.”
Thomas I. Atkins, who died in 2008 at the age of 69, earned the reputation as a champion of racial justice for his commitment to fighting the segregation of schools and helping to minimize political unrest in Boston in the 1960s. Elected to the Boston City Council in 1967, Atkins played a key role in abating political unrest in Boston after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and was an outspoken opponent of segregation in Boston public schools, guiding the legal strategy that eventually required desegregation in Boston.
Over the years, the project site has been home to residential, manufacturing and commercial uses, including a patent leather manufacturing company, a laundry facility, and a warehouse. In the mid-1960s, the Kosher certified Kasanof Bakery opened, providing baked goods to Boston and the region for more than 10 years. The building was later torn down, creating the vacant lot that Nuestra Comunidad acquired in 2003. The organization solicited community input for the lot’s redevelopment over a two-year period, and the current plan for the mixed-use development was agreed upon in 2006.
“The Kasanof Bakery Development, to be renamed the Thomas I. Atkins Apartments, brings new housing and retail space to the community,” said David Price, Executive Director of Nuestra Comunidad. “During construction, this project brought much-needed jobs to the area with 38 percent of those hired from the three surrounding zipcodes. Now this beautiful development will provide housing for 48 families for generations.”
The 72,000 square-foot, four-story Atkins Apartments adds a total of 48 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units of affordable rental housing to the community, 43 of which will be available to residents making 60% of Area Median Income (AMI), and 5 will be available to residents earning 30% of AMI. Residents will benefit from a multipurpose community room and a common indoor space for use by residents of the development. Winn Property Management will occupy one of the building’s two ground-floor commercial spaces; the other is yet to be leased. An additional homeownership component of the project is planned as a second phase of construction.
In accordance with the City of Boston’s Green Affordable Housing Program, the Atkins Apartments will utilize solar power, boast a geothermal water arrangement as part of a high-efficiency heating and cooling system, and employ environmentally friendly design features throughout the building. The project meets Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and the EPA’s Energy Star building standards.
The development project made available 60 full-time construction jobs that engaged workers in new ‘green’ construction methods, materials, and systems. The hiring record of the project’s general contractor, CWC Builders Inc., included 51% Boston residents, 50% minorities, and 5% women at the site. CWC exceed both the original resident and minority hiring goals of 50% and 25%, respectively.
The City’s Blue Hill Avenue Revitalization Initiative was launched by Mayor Menino in 1994, and has since benefited from more than $1 million of public and private investment in housing, commercial development, and infrastructure improvements, among other areas.
Contact:
Mayor’s Press Office
Press.Office (at) cityofboston (dot) gov
