$57M DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED FOR T LOT
Mattapan site picked for 135-unit project
A proposed $57 million development would convert part of the MBTA’s Mattapan Station parking lot into a mixed-income apartment building with 135 units and 10,000 square feet of commercial/retail space.
Preservation of Affordable Housing Inc. and Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp. filed a letter of intent with the Boston Planning & Development Agency to build on the 2.57-acre River Street site in Mattapan Square, which borders Milton and Hyde Park, and is bound by Blue Hill Avenue and the newly restored Neponset River Greenway.
“What makes this site so unique is the new Neponset River Greenway, which is something our development plans are highlighting and really seeing as a major amenity,” said Julie Creamer, POAH’s vice president of real estate development.
“We’re creating some really meaningful pathways to the greenway, as well as creating about a 2,000-square-foot community space which will abut the entrance there to the greenway,” Creamer said.
Half of the apartments would be restricted as affordable to tenants making 30 percent to 60 percent of the area median income, and would be financed through federal low-income tax credits.
“Our hope is to build some really high-quality, transit-oriented housing that’s affordable to a range of incomes,” Creamer said. “There’s a lot of homeownership in this neighborhood, which makes it very stable.”
The remaining apartments wouldn’t be officially income-restricted, but targeted to tenants making 80 percent to 100 percent of the area median income. “They will be affordable relative to a market rent,” Creamer said. “We’re not going to be pricing at the high end of the market.”
The MBTA chose the Boston nonprofits to redevelop the underused 180-space parking lot for the Ashmont-Mattapan high-speed line’s last stop after seeking proposals in 2015.
The lease amounts to a roughly $2 million allocation, Creamer said. The project would preserve 50 MBTA parking spaces and add 70 underground spaces for residents.
“We’re still structuring that partnership where some (spaces) may be available on off hours to the community — residents using the greenway,” Creamer said.
The $57 million project cost doesn’t include a planned four-story condo building with nine units targeted for a River Street parcel on the east side of the MBTA bus loop.
“We did want to bring some homeownership units to the project,” Creamer said. “It’s something we heard the community is really, really interested in, and this would be an ideal spot for those.”