The Fenway Community Development Corp., which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was instrumental in developing the recently opened Susan S. Bailis Assisted Living Community at 352 Massachusetts Ave. in Boston.
What started as a grassroots effort to protect a treasured Boston neighborhood from urban renewal three decades ago has grown into a group perhaps best known for leading the charge to block the construction of a new ballpark.
The Fenway Community Development Corp. not only opposed the development of a new ballpark on a stretch of Boylston Street but offered alternatives that have been embraced by city officials and business leaders. Even the current owners of the Boston Red Sox have welcomed some of the ideas pitched by the group.
This month the Fenway CDC is celebrating 30 years of existence with a gala. It is the second-oldest community development corporation, out of 66 similar nonprofit community-based groups in Massachusetts.
“They are one of the strongest and most productive CDCs in the state, both in housing development and in job training, and workforce development and in community organizing and advocacy and planning,” said Joseph Kriesberg, president of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corps. “[They] are really a remarkable group that has played a leadership role in the field for many years.”
Like other CDCs, the group has produced affordable housing and started programs for seniors and youths. The organization has developed more than 500 affordable housing units in three decades. It has also consistently provided a voice for roughly 33,000 residents “in a neighborhood where residents are often overlooked by larger institutions,” explained Executive Director Carl Koechlin.
Not ‘Typical Work’
Several years ago, the CDC faced a head-to-head battle with one of those “larger institutions” – the owners of the Red Sox. Talk and plans surfaced for a new and bigger ballpark near Fenway Park or possibly in another location.
“We opposed the plan for a new park. It was too big and too close to the neighborhood … and at odds with our vision for that stretch of Boylston Street near Fenway Park,” said Koechlin.
But instead of simply staging protests and organizing rallies, the CDC offered alternatives. It revived a plan for a so-called “Urban Village” for the neighborhood. The CDC’s plan envisions a mix of 2,500 housing units – a significant portion of which would be affordable – shops, restaurants, stores, playgrounds and improved transit to be developed in what Koechlin calls a “bombed-out” three- to four-block stretch of Boylston Street.
In the summer of 2000, the CDC cosponsored a 10-day charrette – or design and planning symposium – that featured designers and ballpark experts to discuss the Urban Village concept. Recognizing the importance and significance of Fenway Park to the neighborhood, the participants offered alternatives for the Red Sox, including renovating and preserving the current park.
“It’s not the typical work of a community development organization,” said Koechlin. “It’s an innovative and sophisticated approach to preserving the diversity of the neighborhood and the residential qualities.”
The Urban Village concept, and the preservation of Fenway Park, has won the support of Boston city leaders and neighborhood residents. Soon after the current owners acquired the Red Sox, the leaders of the CDC met with them. The new Sox owners have implemented some of the ideas that came out of the charrette almost three years ago, including the addition of the Green Monster seating.
And in another boost, city leaders and the Boston Redevelopment Authority recently went through a master planning rezoning process that is expected to help the Urban Village become a reality.
The new zoning is likely to be in place by the summer, according to Koechlin. That would open the door for developers to make their proposal for the area.
The CDC views its role as a “catalyst to help put in place conditions” that will lead to the creation of the Urban Village, said Koechlin. But the CDC is also interested in developing some of the sites, he said. In the last nine months, the CDC has raised $150,000 to help smaller property owners in the vicinity develop plans and assess feasibility for the possible development of their properties.
Koechlin said that some projects currently under way by private developers are also consistent with the Urban Village, including a 500-unit residential development at the intersection of Boylston Street and Brookline Avenue.
The Fenway CDC has celebrated other successes besides the Urban Village plan. Less than two weeks ago, an affordable assisted living facility that the CDC was instrumental in developing opened its doors.
The 82-unit facility, known as the Susan S. Bailis Assisted Living Community, is located at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and St. Botolph Street on a BRA-owned parcel that had been vacant for more than three decades.
“It’s important because it’s one of the very first affordable assisted living facilities in Boston,” said Koechlin.
The $17 million project was completed with city and state money, and a variety of other funding sources, including nearly $2.9 million in linkage money that came from The Abbey Group’s development of Landmark Center – a 1.5 million-square-foot complex of retail stores, offices, movie theaters and parking in the Fenway.
The CDC’s gala anniversary event is May 21 at the Prudential Skywalk.
Aglaia Pikounis may be reached at apikounis@thewarrengroup.com.
