Plans to redevelop one of the oldest public housing projects in the nation took a big step forward.
The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) gave the go-ahead for the phase one development plan to overhaul the Mary Ellen McCormack complex, capping off more than two years of design review by the city and clearing the way for final permitting of the massive project.
WinnCompanies and the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) expect work to begin in 2024 on the $2 billion effort that would bring 3,300 mixed-income apartments to the 30-acre site, including the replacement of all 1,016 public housing units with a guaranteed right to return for current residents.
“This will be the largest development project in company history and will produce a modern, inclusive, mixed-income neighborhood—a community of opportunity that is economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable for the long term,” said WinnCompanies CEO Gilbert Winn. “We appreciate the BPDA’s guidance; the support of all of our public, private, and nonprofit partners; and, most of all, the patience and faith that Mary Ellen McCormack residents have shown in our shared vision for the community’s bright future.”
Built during the Great Depression and opened in 1938, the community consists of 22 three-story, brick buildings and 152 direct-entry row houses. In addition to being physically isolated from the surrounding neighborhood, the apartments fall short of modern standards, with no handicapped accessibility, no in-unit or common laundry facilities, no amenities, and inadequate infrastructure and security.
Under the revitalization plan, new residential buildings will be built, and existing buildings will be demolished in phases as part of a complex relocation strategy choreographed to allow as many of the existing households as possible to move directly into new apartments.
More specifically, the $776 million first-phase plan ratified by the BPDA calls for 1,310 apartments to be created in eight new residential buildings that will be built over eight years, replacing 529 obsolete apartments for BHA households and creating 781 new apartment homes for middle-income and market-rate renters.
In addition, WinnCompanies will spend $110 million on public infrastructure improvements to better connect Mary Ellen McCormack with the surrounding neighborhood through a revamped street grid, new utilities and parks, and long-term climate resiliency measures, said company leaders.
“Boston’s public housing residents deserve the best, and this redevelopment will give them an enhanced, resilient community in which to thrive while welcoming new neighbors,” said BHA administrator Kenzie Bok. “We are proud of the many generations of Bostonians who have called Mary Ellen McCormack home, and of the current residents who have co-designed its future with BHA and Winn. Thank you to mayor Michelle Wu, BPDA chief Arthur Jemison, and so many partners who have been supporting this project every step of the way.”
In partnership with the YMCA of Greater Boston, WinnCompanies and the Tenant Task Force will also coordinate programs and supportive services for residents, offering early-education and after-school programs, health care services, workforce development, and senior home care.
Under the revitalization plan, new residential buildings will be built, and existing buildings will be demolished, in phases as part of a complex relocation strategy choreographed to allow as many of the existing households as possible to move directly into new apartments.
To facilitate and prioritize direct moves, a 94-unit apartment building will be the first erected. Since 4 out of 10 households in the community consist of individuals 62 or older, a 172-unit building offering a range of supportive and community services for seniors will also be among the first built.
A minimum of 205 of the apartments in the remaining six first-phase buildings will be reserved for current public housing residents. Contingent on final funding awards, the project will create up to 90 new middle-income apartments and up to 735 new market-rate units. All apartments in any given building will have identical finishes, regardless of resident income.
Overall, the first-phase construction will redevelop 18 acres of the Mary Ellen McCormack property, increasing open space by 73% with new pedestrian walking paths, separate bike infrastructure, and gathering spaces. In addition, 33,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space will be created for local small businesses, including a grocery retailer. Twenty-five percent of retail space will be offered at below-market leases.
Funding for the first phase will come from an array of city, state, and federal agencies, which will help leverage more than $780 million in private equity and debt. Financing will include more than $191 million in equity from low-income housing tax credits; $50 million from the city of Boston; appropriations from the state Legislature; and funding support from MassHousing, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities.
"The redevelopment of Mary Ellen McCormack directly addresses the greatest issues facing greater Boston—housing availability, costs, and climate change,” said WinnDevelopment vice president of development Andrew Colbert, the day-to-day leader of the project. “Our community-informed plan integrating homes, public spaces, walkable streets, services, and retail businesses will activate the community and encourage greater connectivity with the surrounding neighborhood. All aspects of the project incorporate resiliency measures into the design to adapt to the future climate conditions.”
Resident services will be overseen by Connected Communities, the social impact arm of WinnCompanies, in partnership with the YMCA and the Tenant Task Force, which will coordinate the efforts of a coalition comprised of dozens of local nonprofit service organizations. WinnResidential, the company’s property management arm, will operate the community on a day-to-day basis.
A 17,500-square-foot community center, created through the adaptive reuse of the existing boiler plant on the site, will serve as the hub for resident support. Positioned next to a planned community green, the community center will be named for the late William “Billy” McGonagle, a former BHA administrator who grew up at Mary Ellen McCormack and served BHA for 40 years.
With a first-of-its-kind research grant from the National Institutes of Health, Boston College, Harvard University, and Boston University are partnering with WinnCompanies and the BHA to study the redevelopment over the course of five years. This innovative study will examine how the conversion into a mixed-income community with outcome-focused supportive services can impact resident health, well-being, and economic mobility.
All eight of the phase-one apartment buildings will be high-performance, fully electric, and built to Passive House standards, the most rigorous energy sustainability requirements in residential development. All will be ready for future solar energy installations. Because the Mary Ellen McCormack site is susceptible to current and future flooding from nearby Boston Harbor, construction work will raise the grades of the property by 5 to 7 feet, and all new buildings will be constructed above the 2070 projected flooding scenario projected by Climate Ready Boston.
The project is expected to create more than 7,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent jobs in property management, retail offerings, and community services.
City of Boston approvals for the second phase of the master-planned redevelopment will be sought near the end of phase-one construction. The second phase is expected to produce 10 additional mixed-income apartment buildings on the remaining 12 acres of the property, featuring 487 replacement units for public housing residents and approximately 1,500 middle-income and market-rate units.
