News
Southie's New Look
December 4, 2012
| Demolition is starting this week on Phase 2 of a massive redevelopment at South Boston’s Old Colony, one of the nation’s oldest public housing communities. (You can teach old housing new tricks; you just need a lot of demolition equipment.) | |
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| Beacon Communities Development president Pam Goodman(with Beacon Concepts’ Mercedes Farrando) tells us it will build 169 new apartments in Phase 2 of The Homes at Old Colony, all affordable housing. The 10 buildings on 4.4 acres will be a mix of flats and townhouses with solar rooftop arrays. Phase 1 and 2—$98.3M in new construction— are providing 285 new apartments at the 71-year-old community. The redevelopment’s aim is to provide safe, healthy, high-quality housing, and enhance social services. The new construction also marks a leap forward in the transformation of this part of Southie. Old Colony, once considered an isolated community, is becoming an ever more vital part of new Boston and its multifamily boom. | |
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| The 116-unit Phase 1 (mid-rise above), completed a year ago, recently was certified LEED Platinum. Joining Beacon and the Boston Housing Authority on this project are Suffolk Construction, The Architectural Team, and several community groups (financed with stimulus funds and other public dollars). They're reknitting public housing that was once walled off by superblocks of barrack-style buildings back into the neighborhood. A new six-story mid-rise and townhomes fit into a master plan that creates new street patterns (tell your GPS maps), opens the way for foot and vehicular traffic, and adds views and access to the adjacent park and Carson Beach. | |
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| The project team: top row Koningisor, Luciano & Associates’ Jim Mitrano, Boston Housing Authority’s Stephanie Mendez, Beacon Communities Development (Old Colony Phase 2 project director)Darcy Jameson, Suffolk Construction’s Adam Benjamin, John O’Toole, and Bill Bird, and The Architectural Team’s Abe Brahmachari and Jay Szymanski. Phase 1 included the new LEED Gold Joseph M. Tierney Learning Center to house educational, job training and social service programs. |
