Mayor Michelle Wu joined Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and officials from co-developers Pennrose and LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc. and residents for the grand opening of The Pryde on June 28, 2024. Photo courtesy of the Boston Mayor's Office
A former Boston Public School building has been renovated into 74 LGBTQ-friendly, mixed-income apartments for older Boston residents.
Mayor Michelle Wu joined Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and officials from co-developers Pennrose and LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc. and residents for the grand opening of The Pryde on Friday.
The Pryde, located in Hyde Park, is Massachusetts’ first LGBTQ-affirming, income-restricted senior housing community. The former William Barton Rogers Middle School includes a 10,000-square-foot community center that will host programming and services for building residents as well as events for the wider Hyde Park community.
“Making Boston a home for everyone means ensuring that residents can live in the City they love with safe, affordable housing that is welcoming to all,” Wu said in a statement provided by her office. “As we celebrate Pride Month, this is a shining example of how Boston can breathe new life into existing spaces for the benefit of our residents.”
Three floors of new one- and two-bedroom apartments are designed to be accessible to accommodate people with mobility devices or arthritis. The renovated building also has elevators, on-site laundry facilities, resident lounges and a fitness center. The Pryde is located near the shops, restaurants and amenities of Hyde Park’s Clearey Square, including the public library and two MBTA commuter rail stops. Residents of the building will have access to 24-hour staffing and organized transportation for appointments.
“We are honored to be part of this historic moment,” Charlie Adams, regional vice president of Pennrose, said in a statement provided by Wu’s office. “This renovated community asset is a monument to the hard work of so many and would not be possible without the financial support of numerous funders including the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Massachusetts Historic Commission, MassHousing, and the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing among others. This former public school had outlived its previous life, but can continue to serve Hyde Park as a community resource and brand-new housing for another 100 years.”
The building nearly lost an $850,000 earmark sought by Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley intended to fund programming at The Pryde. Republican legislators objected to federal money going to support LGBTQ programming, and was cut from its original bill on a party-line vote by Republicans on the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee last summer.
An announcement by Pressley’s office on March 25 reported that Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey had teamed up to make sure the funding for The Pryde got included in an appropriations bill that passed the U.S. House and Senate.
“Today marks a monumental step forward for inclusion and diversity in Boston. The grand opening of the city’s first LGBTQ-affirming affordable senior housing community fulfills a critical need for our most vulnerable older adults,” Gretchen Van Ness, Executive Director of LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc., said in a statement. “The Pryde is more than just apartments – it is a community where everyone, no matter who they love or how they identify, can live with dignity.”
