Flat 9 at Whittier is bringing new affordable housing options to families in Boston.
Led by an all-woman development team, the multi-phased project marks the redevelopment of the former Whittier Street public housing property that was built in the 1950s.
The original 200 public housing units have been replaced by 210 deeply affordable homes, and 262 additional mixed-income units have been created across the site and the Lower Roxbury neighborhood.
Officials recently celebrated the completion of The Amp, the third and final phase of Flat 9 at Whittier. The 12-story mixed-income building features 172 apartment homes, ranging from studios to two-bedroom units, along with community and commercial space.
All three phases were developed by partners Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA), and Madison Park Development Corp. was a partner in the first two phases.
“It used to be an isolated superblock of housing,” says Meena Jacob, POAH’s vice president of real estate development. “It’s a stone’s throw from downtown Boston, but residents were very isolated. The way we did our design and added two public streets, we were able to tie our work into a Boston infrastructure project. It opened up the site. It gives residents a lot more opportunity. It is allowing people who lived in the neighborhood to have affordable, high-quality housing opportunities and stay within the neighborhood.”
The redevelopment effort was kickstarted by a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhoods grant to BHA and the city of Boston in 2016. The city also invested $8.2 million toward the overall project.
Getting its name from the neighborhood’s jazz history, Flat 9 at Whittier stands out for its scope and impact, providing an even mix of public, affordable, and market-rate housing.
It’s also notable for the all-woman development team that made the project possible.
Along with Jacob, the team included POAH vice president of construction Deanna Savage, POAH project manager Kristel Salinas, and the owner’s project manager Alicia Toney. Collectively, they oversaw the financing, demolition, and new construction of the three phases of the development.
POAH recently released a 4-minute video featuring the team.
The times have changed with women becoming increasingly represented in development and construction, according to Jacob.
In the video, she talks about the importance of the development. “The primary goal of this project was for residents to be able to stay within their community without being displaced and to live with dignity in high-quality housing that they can afford,” she says.
Flat 9 at Whittier faced its share of challenges, including an underground stream, old steam tunnels, and Boston’s notoriously soft clay soil. Working with the city and neighborhood, the team overcame those obstacles. Savage details lessons from the complex project in an article.
“It’s not only the cost of the building, but it’s how are we going to impact the neighborhood and impact that community,” Savage says in the video. “Don’t just build a building. Show up to the space that we’re going to be in and get the people in the neighborhood excited about what we’re building, let them know that we’re building it, and let them somehow be a part of that.”