Proposal for dozens of apartments brings the building boom farther into Dorchester
Half the apartments will be subsidized at rental rates affordable for families making under $50,000, while the other half will be set aside for middle-class renters earning anywhere from $50,000 to $90,000.
Boston’s development boom is headed for Dorchester’s Uphams Corner, with a local development team rolling out plans for dozens of new apartments and townhouses.
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp. wants to build 80 one, two and three-bedroom apartments and six two-family homes featuring for-sale units on a site that was once home to the old Maxwell Box factory.
Half the apartments will be subsidized at rental rates affordable for families making under $50,000, while the other half will be set aside for middle-class renters earning anywhere from $50,000 to $90,000, said Andy Waxman, real estate director for Dorchester Bay.
Growing trend
It is the latest big development project proposed for Dorchester, with the areas around the Ashmont T Station and along Dorchester Ave. near South Boston seeing a surge in new residential plans and construction.
Rising prices in once humble but now pricey neighborhoods like South Boston, the Fenway and Charlestown are helping push buyers, renters and developers into relatively affordable Dorchester.
“Our goal is to increase the amount of affordable housing in the neighborhood,’’ Waxman said. “There is definitely a lot of (housing cost) pressure in this neighborhood and across the city.’’
In what developers are hoping will be a major draw, the development would take shape literally within arm’s reach of the Uphams Corner stop on the Fairmount commuter rail line, with a ten minute ride into South Station.
The site
City Hall seized the old Maxwell Box building in 2010 after years of unpaid taxes, then cleared the site and put it out to bid, with Dorchester Bay winning the competition.
Dorchester Bay is teaming up with Boston Capital, Newman Community Partners and Escazu Development, with the apartments expected to cost $30 million, Waxman said.
The project also includes 20,000 square feet for commercial or light industrial businesses as well, at a development cost of $6 million.
Current plans call for the apartments to be developed first, followed later by the six two-family for-sale townhomes, he said.
Dorchester Bay hopes to nail down over the next six months the city and state permits it needs to start construction, with a two to three year build-out period slated for the new apartments, Waxman said.
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