Historic Boston Inc. (HBI), a non-profit real estate development and preservation organization, formally opened four new apartments in a H.H. Richardson-designed building that it has saved, rehabilitated, and re-purposed in Chinatown neighborhood.
Mayor Thomas Menino joined HBI executive director Kathy Kottaridis, HBI president Matthew Kiefer, and Ronald Druker, cochair with the mayor, of Historic Boston's Trilogy Fund.
The project manager for the Hayden reconstruction was Lisa Lewis. The general contractor was Marc Truant & Associates. The architect was CUBE design + research. The historic consultant was McCrostie Historic Advisors, LLC. The full cost of the design and construction is $5.6 million.
Financing was provided by the HBI, Mass. Historical Commission, Mass. secretary of state William Galvin, donors to HBI's Trilogy Fund, and Eastern Bank.
Assistance was received from city of Boston Inspectional Services Department, Boston Redevelopment Authority, Department of Neighborhood Development, and the Boston Landmarks Commission.
Kottaridis said at the celebration that HBI has passed the halfway mark toward its goal of raising $1 million for three projects, including the Hayden Bldg., in the Trilogy Fund.
The Hayden Bldg., located at 681 Washington St., at LaGrange St., will feature retail on the ground floor. The four 930 s/f apartments, on floors 2 through 5, are in the process of being rented.
Major donors to the Trilogy Fund, who include Druker, Alan and Sherry Leventhal, Norman and Muriel Leventhal, the Lewis Family Foundation, the Winn Companies, and the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
"Together we are showing once again that historic preservation does not inhibit economic development, it ignites it," said Menino. "The restoration of the Hayden Building in the heart of Chinatown will support preservation projects across our city. I want to thank the HBI Trilogy Fund donors for their contributions to this important work. I look forward to future success together."
The Trilogy Fund was launched in June 2012 to help finance the redevelopment and preservation of three current projects: the 1875 Hayden Building, the 1836 Alvah Kittredge House in Roxbury, and the 1865 Vertullo Building in Hyde Park.
The Hayden Bldg., which was located in the Combat Zone adult entertainment district, was threatened with demolition when Historic Boston Inc. purchased it in 1993, with the help of the city and mayor Menino. The organization secured the building and preserved it through years of inactivity, initiating a full-scale preservation and reactivation project about a year ago.
The Hayden Bldg. is architect H.H. Richardson's only remaining commercial building in Boston. HBI also purchased the low-rise adult bookshop next door. Over the next two years, HBI arrested the structural problems, restored the full exterior to its Richardsonian character, and put the first floor of the Hayden Bldg. back into use as Liberty Bank.
The upper floors remained empty because their fit-out was too expensive and the market too weak to support the expense.
The low-rise building was redeveloped for Boston's first Malaysian restaurant, Penang. HBI carried the building for 15 years, but its goal was to fully re-activate the structure with a new use. In 2010 HBI sold the Penang building to Kensington Investment Co., Inc., which is building apartments at Washington and LaGrange Sts., and used the proceeds for the Hayden Bldg.'s upper floors as residential units. The net revenue from rentals will help HBI implement further preservation projects.
The project manager for the Hayden reconstruction was Lisa Lewis. The general contractor was Marc Truant & Associates. The architect was CUBE design + research. The historic consultant was McCrostie Historic Advisors, LLC.
Shown (from left) are: Kathy Kottaridis, executive director of Historic Boston Inc.; mayor Thomas Menino; developer and donor and Trilogy Fund cochair Ronald Druker; and HBI president Matthew Kiefer, of Goulston & Storrs.

Shown (from left) are: Kathy Kottaridis, executive director of Historic Boston Inc.; mayor Thomas Menino; developer and donor and Trilogy Fund co-chair Ronald Druker; and HBI president Matthew Kiefer, of Goulston & Storrs.