New condominiums are nearing completion on Norwell Street in Dorchester, on parcels sold by the city of Boston to local developers committed to providing income-restricted home ownership units. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Urban renewal projects leveled inner-city Boston neighborhoods in the mid-20th century and many parcels sat vacant for decades, serving as lingering reminders about the downside of top-down real estate schemes.
In recent years, the city of Boston has been reversing the displacement process: offering vacant city-owned parcels to minority developers for infill housing projects. Some of the first projects are materializing in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, creating income-restricted opportunities for homeownership in renter-dominated neighborhoods.
“The city has given priority to local minority development companies and general contractors, which is a way to help balance the effects of the history we’ve had in our community,” said Dariela Villon-Maga, a Mattapan native and founder of DVM Consulting, which is nearing completion of three condominium sites off Blue Hill Avenue.
Branded as Blume on the Ave, the three sites will create 30 condos for buyers earning 80 to 100 percent of area median income. Two retail condos are under agreement to local business owners, including a Jamaica Plain shop that’s losing its lease as its landlord prepares to sell.
Since 2023, the city has offered 28 parcels that are now in predevelopment or under construction, totaling 144 housing units. Many of these properties were acquired by the city for unpaid taxes.
The formula for their reactivation: Sell them to development teams at nominal cost, while offering fast-track permitting approvals and city and state subsidies to complete financing for family-sized condominiums.
Known as “Welcome Home, Boston,” the program is expanding. This month, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and the Boston Planning Department requested proposals to develop a dozen additional sites on city-owned land in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roslindale and Roxbury envisioned for first-time homebuyers.
Villon-Maga’s $23 million Blume on the Ave project received Neighborhood Housing Trust and Community Preservation Act funding from the city of Boston. The project also received funding from MassHousing’s CommonWealth Builder program, which provides grants up to $250,000 per unit to subsidize projects located in the Gateway Cities and Boston.
Building Homes and Capacity
Villon-Maga and two other development teams showed off progress on sites under construction in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan July 18. The event was organized by The Builder Coalition, a nonprofit that provides professional education and networking, and a six-month fellowship program for emerging affordable housing developers.
“One of my main takeaways was the networking opportunities with other developers of color that were facing the same challenges: lack of access to capital, lack of opportunity due to track record and just being able to bounce off ideas and talk through the challenges we were going through on our own separate deals,” Villon-Maga said.
Norfolk Design & Construction also is expanding its development capacity through the Boston surplus property program.
Founded by Adler Bernadin and Duane Boyce, who had worked together at Shawmut Design & Construction, the Walpole-based firm started out in home flipping and construction management for third-party developers, before finding larger-scale development opportunities through the Boston program.
Boston Communities Principal F. Marie Morisset leads a tour of a development site on Harvard Street in Dorchester awarded through a city program to turn surplus properties into affordable home ownership units. Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
The company has begun site work at 241, 268 and 276 Geneva Ave. and 22 Eunice St. in Dorchester, which will create 26 income-restricted condominiums.
Norfolk pursued the steeply sloped sites because its construction background gave it a competitive advantage against other applicants, Bernadin said.
The company also is construction manager for several other developers who have been awarded sites through the program, including Boston Communities.
A Roadmap for Scaling Development
Boston Communities Principals F. Marie Morisset and Phillip Cohen, a former executive at WinnCompanies, met through The Builder Coalition’s first fellowship cycle and were awarded sites at 77-81, 84 and 94 Harvard St. in Dorchester that received approval for 25 condominiums.
Steve Adams
Morisset, a native of Haiti whose background is in investment banking and management consulting, credited The Builder Coalition and its network with learning the intricacies of affordable home ownership financing and compliance regulations.
“We know about rehabs, we know about flips, and we can do those things. For a very long time, I struggled to figure out how to scale the work that I was doing,” Morriset said. “It wasn’t until I was introduced to the Builder Coalition, through that mentorship and all the resources they provided, that I started to have a better confidence in being able to scale to large developments.”
Founded in 2017 by Dave Madan, The Builder Coalition added an Innovation Center this year to broaden its outreach and help connect members to sources of capital and expertise. This fall, the organization is sponsoring a capital investors summit that will bring two dozen fund managers to meet with emerging developers.
“We’re pulling together the best ideas that are happening all across the country to make capital access possible, to make land access possible, and to make access to education networks possible,” Madan said.
