Upon completing phase one, Suffolk Construction has been selected to manage construction on phase two of The Homes at Old Colony redevelopment project. The $50 million project will feature demolition of 223 distressed units and construction of 169 affordable rental units located in four three-story townhouse-style buildings and two four-level elevator buildings.
Suffolk recently joined developer Beacon Communities Development LLC, The Architectural Team, and government officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of phase two, which will be completed in May 2014.
Old Colony's redevelopment is designed to include extensive green building and energy efficient measures and utilize low impact development strategies. In addition to the LEED Gold certified community building completed in phase one, each townhome and midrise building is targeting LEED for Homes Platinum and the entire community is designed to achieve LEED certification for Neighborhood Development.
Phase one featured demolition of 164 deteriorated units and construction of 116 new affordable housing units located in a midrise building and four clusters of wood frame townhouses.
In addition, Suffolk built a 10,000 square-foot community center and maintenance garage, and managed improvements to roadways, parking areas, utility infrastructure, and landscaping.
Prior to the redevelopment, the Old Colony public housing development was the most physically distressed property in the Boston Housing Authority's portfolio. As a result, the BHA developed a master plan and successfully applied for and received $44 million in federal funding which allowed the multi-phase redevelopment effort to go forward.
The Old Colony project is being funded through several public-private partnerships. The first phase included stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, while Phase Two includes a $22 million federal HOPE VI grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as funding from Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, U.S. Bank, Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), Boston Community Loan Fund, City of Boston, AFL-CIO, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.