Slick Jamaica Plain proposal would look right at home in Kendall Square
A nonprofit and a development partner want to build a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments and a small amount of retail across from the Jackson Square T stop in plans filed this week at City Hall
Think it is tough landing a market-rate apartment? Try snagging an affordable rental.
Richard Thal, executive director of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC), notes the nonprofit has been flooded with 4,000 applications for the last 100 units with subsidized, below-market rents it has helped build.
That’s 40 people vying for each affordable unit, which are typically reserved for low and moderate income renters.
Hoping to do its part to help ease the city’s housing crunch, the Jamaica Plain NDC is moving ahead with plans for a third phase in its sweeping redevelopment of Jackson Square where J.P. and Roxbury meet.
The nonprofit and a development partner want to build a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments and a small amount of retail across from the Jackson Square T stop in plans filed this week at City Hall.
It comes atop years of redevelopment efforts that have helped transform Jackson Square from an urban backwater to an up-and-coming part of the city.
“The hope all along was that Jackson Square would be a place people would want to come to and stay in, and live in, and work in, and play in,’’ Thal said. “It hasn’t been that for many decades.’’
In a watershed for Jackson Square, a new mixed-income apartment building at 225 Centre Street rented out briskly when it opened two years ago, establishing the viability of market-rate housing in the area.
The Jamaica Plain NDC is now pushing ahead with its final installment of its Jackson Square redevelopment, which features a pair of buildings with a cutting-edge, modern flair that would be at home in Kendall Square.
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See renderings of the proposed complex:
The latest proposal, though, is a smaller and revamped version of an earlier one put forth back in 2007 by the nonprofit, which does business as Jackson Square Partners.
The first version called for a mix of condos and apartments, as well as more retail and more parking.
But market conditions have since changed, while Jackson Square Partners lost control of one of the parcels on the development site.
The redrawn plans call for about the same number of housing units – 144 units – but all rental rather than a mix of apartments and condos.
Jackson Square Partners will take the lead on Building M, or 15 Jackson St., which is slated for 44 subsidized affordable rentals, as well as 22 parking spaces. The majority of apartments will be “sized for families,’’ with two or more bedrooms, the proposal notes.
The Community Builders, the nonprofit’s development wingman, will build Building N at 250 Centre St. The building will feature a mix of market-rate and affordable units, 80 parking spaces, and 2,400 square feet of “neighborhood-focused retail.’’
The latest Jackson Square proposal still faces months of city reviews before final approvals are expected.
The current timetable calls for a construction launch on the affordable units in the spring of 2017, followed by the second building of mostly market rate units that fall.
A centerpiece park and plaza are also planned, with work slated to begin on that in 2018, though funding is expected to be more challenging than it has been for the apartments.
“The demand for housing is just tremendous,’’ Thal said. “More and more people are feeling the squeeze.’’
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