3368 Washington St. Jamaica Plain/Image courtesy of RODE Architects

An affordable housing project for the homeless in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood has finally broken ground after seeing off legal challenges from a neighboring commercial landlord.

In statements issued Monday, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu lauded the start of construction at 3368 Washington St., a 5-story, 202-unit development being undertaken by The Pine Street Inn and nonprofit developer The Community Builders. The fully-affordable building will have 140 supportive housing units set aside for people currently experiencing homelessness, with supportive services provided by the Pine Street Inn. The remaining 62 income-restricted apartments set aside for families. TCB will manage the entire building.

“This project, with units for individuals moving out of homelessness, and wrap-around support services, is a significant step towards ending homelessness in the city,” Wu said. “Once complete, these apartments will represent the largest supportive housing development in the city, delivering stable, affordable homes to those who require it most. I’m thankful to the community and all our partners who helped make this development possible.”

The project’s complex capital stack includes $7 million of funding from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, $50 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity and over $60 million in construction financing from Bank of America. Barings/Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. is providing over $20 million in permanent loans as well as over $30 million in tax-exempt bridge financing and the Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing is providing more than $16 million in funding, including $1.5 million from the Community Preservation Act and $5 million in linkage funding from The HYM Investment Group. Some of the city funding comes from the $10 million Boston’s Way Home Fund, started by the city of Boston to create permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals and seeded with $1 million lead donations from Bank of America, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Mass General Brigham, MassMutual and Suffolk Cares.

The project was derailed for months when Monty Gold, owner of several nearby commercial properties, sued to overturn city approvals for the project in the summer of 2020, arguing the building did not have enough parking, which he claimed would damage his tenants’ businesses. Gold settled that suit in May of last year, but sued to block a different affordable housing development nearby shortly thereafter. The lawsuits were a major catalyst to city officials’ decision to remove minimum parking requirements from all future affordable housing developments city-wide last fall.