City and state leaders have praised Davenport Commons as being one of the most innovative housing projects in Boston and perhaps the country.
Trading a crowded and cluttered dorm room for a sparkling new apartment may be every college student’s dream. Last week, at least 585 Northeastern University students did just that when they moved into the apartments of the newly constructed Davenport Commons.
But these students, in addition to having fellow classmates as their neighbors, will also be living near families.
Completed late this summer, Davenport Commons is being touted as the first housing development in the country to combine student residence halls and affordable housing for non-students.
The $51 million project, located on Douglass Park Avenue between Tremont Street and Columbus Avenue in Roxbury, features two residence halls with 125 apartments. Adjacent to the student housing are 60 condominiums for families. Another 15 townhouses for families are located on Shawmut Estates at Ruggles Street and Shawmut Avenue.
City and state leaders have praised Davenport Commons as one of the most innovative and ambitious housing projects in the city, if not the country.
Not only does Davenport Commons provide more housing for Northeastern students – keeping them from gobbling up non-campus housing in the city and further driving up rents in this tight real estate market – but it also provides affordable housing opportunities for families currently priced out of the Boston housing market.
The one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums and townhouses, sold for between $85,000 and $225,000 – well below Boston’s current market rates. The current median price for a condominium in Roxbury is $287,000, according to Warren Information Services, a sister company of Banker & Tradesman that collects property sales information from the registries of deeds throughout the state.
“It is the first time in the nation that a university and a community and a city have joined hands to create a project that includes housing for students and housing for families,” said Patrick Lee, a partner with Trinity Financial, one of the three Boston-based development companies behind the project.
Lee said more than 700 families applied to purchase the 75 housing units at Davenport Commons. The units were sold within seven months of completion. Both facts are a “testament” to the “crying need for low- and moderate-income housing” in the city, Lee said.
The homebuyers, who were selected based on their income, family status and previous homeownership, moved in several weeks before students started unpacking their luggage and setting up their computers last weekend.
The highest-priced townhouse – a three-bedroom, fully air-conditioned home complete with household appliances and a parking space – was sold for $225,000.
Lee said that home could have easily sold for twice as much – between $400,000 and $500,000. But the developers and Northeastern University made a commitment to construct housing that was affordable to low- and moderate-income households.
Security Measures
Students are also praising the new housing, although some had a few concerns about the project.
“I hear the rooms are absolutely gorgeous,” said Danielle Dieckmann, a third-year student at Northeastern and a vice president for the university’s Resident Student Association. Dieckmann said she has not been inside the apartments, which are located on Columbus Avenue, but has heard favorable comments from students who are living there.
Before students moved into Davenport Commons, some were concerned about safety issues in the neighborhood. Dieckmann said students had questions about public safety and other matters when they met with campus police in the spring.
The campus police told students they would have more foot and bike patrols in the neighborhood, and they are operating a public safety center nearby, said Dieckmann.
“A lot more students are over there now, and with the extra traffic it’s getting better,” she said.
Over the summer, the RSA and the Student Government Association did a “lighting survey,” sending female and male students to walk around the neighborhood of Davenport Commons late at night and comment about whether they felt safe and whether the lighting was adequate.
Dieckmann said the survey indicated that students felt fairly safe in the neighborhood. Students also felt better after talking with campus police about the security measures being taken, according to Dieckmann. Students living in the residence halls need a card key to get into the buildings.
In the future, the RSA and the condominium association will meet to discuss any concerns that may arise.
Northeastern University has signed a 30-year lease for the residence halls and will own the buildings once the lease expires.
In addition to Trinity, the other developers were Madison Park Development Corp. and Housing Investment Inc., who completed the project using funding from MassHousing, Citizens Bank, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and Lehman Bros.
Construction began in 1999 after many community meetings with Roxbury activists who have often been at odds with the university over expansion plans.
About three years ago, Roxbury resident groups rallied against Northeastern’s original dormitory proposal and called for more affordable housing to be added.
Northeastern originally planned to build an 800-student dormitory. But after negotiations with local officials and residents, university officials opted for a project that would combine both student and affordable housing units.
The university guaranteed the bonds through a 30-year leasing agreement with MassHousing, which allowed for the construction of the affordable homes.
The housing was built on three previously vacant lots near Columbus Place, a building of Northeastern University administrative offices on Columbus Avenue.
