A vacant elderly public housing development in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood will soon be demolished and replaced with this 4-story building featuring 55 one-bedroom apartments for senior citizens.

Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood is about to get new senior housing – housing that neighbors and community leaders say is sorely needed.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. plans to build a 4-story building featuring 55 one-bedroom apartments for senior citizens.

Located near the Bromley-Heath public housing development, the new housing will be designed to meet the needs of a range of seniors – from those who are completely independent to those who are considered more frail and in need of services. Residents will have access to personal care, 24-hour emergency response, programmed activities and visits by a registered nurse.

The housing replaces a vacant 9-story building that was the first senior housing developed by the Boston Housing Authority in the early 1960s. The property, which has severe masonry problems, has been vacant for 10 years. In 2001, the Housing Authority designated JPNDC to redevelop the site using what’s known as Section 202 funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

JPNDC has worked closely with the Bromley-Heath Tenant Management Corp., a resident group that manages the nearby Bromley-Health public housing campus, to design housing that will meet the needs of the community. An advisory committee that included seniors who live in Bromley-Health led the effort.

“When they said they wanted to have tenants to help them come up with a plan, I gladly went because the seniors need a place of their own,” said Marcia Langford, a senior who has lived in Bromley-Heath since 1966.

Langford, who can see the back of the vacant BHA building from a window in her second-floor apartment, has not decided whether she will move into the new apartments. But for her, the new development is much more desirable than the empty, boarded-up buildings that are currently in the neighborhood.

Aging in Place

The JPNDC plans to demolish the existing building in upcoming weeks and immediately begin construction on the $11.2 million project known as the Bickford Street Senior Housing.

The housing will be designed to provide opportunities for the elderly residents to remain as active and healthy as possible, thus preventing them from having to move into nursing homes.

All of the apartments will be fully adaptable to enable seniors to “age in place,” according to Maria Mulkeen, a project manager with JPNDC.

“The goal is to have them move in as an independent senior and stay as long as possible,” said Mulkeen. “This is the kind of place where people can move in and have a continuum of services.”

In addition to offering services to residents, the Bickford Street Senior Housing will provide regular activities and support services to seniors living in Bromley-Heath. The services will be administered by the property manager, Peabody Properties, which is also a certified adult foster care program provider.

The combination of housing with comprehensive support services for seniors in an urban setting is a unique model, according to the project’s planners. Bickford Street Senior Housing will be the first facility with onsite supportive services for elders to be built within a BHA development, according to Sally Swenson, JPNDC’s resource development director.

While the Housing Authority provides some services to senior residents, it does not provide such a high level of support services, explained BHA Communications Director Lydia Agro.

Agro said BHA’s senior housing developments have resident service coordinators who generally split their time between two or three elderly housing projects. They work directly with residents and coordinate events onsite, but the resident coordinators primarily provide referrals and connect residents with services.

“The plan for Bickford is a higher level of service in order to help seniors age in place for a longer period of time,” said Agro.

Community leaders say there is critical need for more senior housing in Boston. There are currently 3,334 names on the waiting list for BHA housing that’s designed specifically for elderly and disabled people.

Jamaica Plain has three BHA senior housing developments. Combined, the housing developments have a waiting list of 520 people. However, according to Agro, some of the names appear on more than one waiting list.

There is also the Nate Smith House, a 45-unit housing complex for elderly people on Lamartine Street that was developed by JPNDC. The Nate Smith House has a waiting list of 120 people, according to Mulkeen.

“There is such a need for housing in this area and in Boston in particular,” said Mulkeen.

Besides the 55 one-bedroom apartments, the building will include accessible community space – including a kitchen and dining area – offices, and an apartment for a live-in respondent.

Eligible residents must be at least 62 years old and have incomes at or below 50 percent of the area median income. Fourteen of the units will be reserved for seniors earning at or below 30 percent of the area median income, with six of those units set aside for homeless elders. Residents will be chosen by lottery.

Aglaia Pikounis can be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.