Photo courtesy of Trinity Financial
James Keefe
Project Manager, Trinity Financial
Age: 34
Industry experience: 12 years
After starting his career in the environmental consulting industry, James Keefe arrived at his family’s Boston-based development firm in 2024 just in time to take a key role managing a pair of major local projects. In Dorchester, where Keefe grew up, Trinity Financial is projecting a 2027 groundbreaking for its 150 Centre at Shawmut Station, comprising 72 affordable apartments. In Charlestown, where Keefe now lives with his wife and two children, Trinity Financial was the city’s choice to build more than 700 units of mixed-income housing on parking lots formerly used by Bunker Hill Community College.
Q: Trinity Financial recently received approval for the largest-scale project in Boston’s surplus property disposition program: the Austin Street lots in Charlestown. How did the project change from initial filing to approval?
A: It was borne out of the city’s PLAN: Charlestown process. The site was identified as one of the most critical public redevelopment opportunities in the city. Just a great chance on these two large, underutilized parking lots, steps from downtown: a chance to add affordable housing, open space, indoor and outdoor recreational opportunities, right next to the MBTA Orange Line station.
The BPDA ran a competitive RFP in 2023. Trinity was selected out of that process, and our initial proposal reflected exactly what the city had asked for. However, once we were designated, we knew it was essential to go back to the community, to keep them involved in the process and continue to get input.
The site is located in a complex area. It’s surrounded by large-scale infrastructure – roadways, some heavy traffic – so site circulation and safety were really the biggest themes that we heard. One of the biggest things that came out of this process was to redesign the circulation plan. That included creating new access drives off of New Rutherford Avenue and organizing the interior streets.
Something that we also heard about was scale and timing. There were folks who really wanted to be confident the site could be built in a responsible, phased way. So, we shifted to a phased program. Our first building, Building B, is 123 units of 100 percent affordable housing. We decided to move forward with this piece because it’s the most urgently needed. It delivered the highest public benefit, as these key infrastructural improvements that are helpful for unlocking the later phases of the project. Our goal is closing and starting construction of the phase one portion in early 2027, while continuing to advance the overall master plan permitting and design.
Q: What is the latest timeline for your reuse of the Medfield State Hospital property with 334 apartments?
A: We are incredibly excited about Medfield. The plan delivers 334 mixed-income rental homes across 27 buildings on a historic 47-acre campus. We’re preserving and restoring the original structures. It’s really a true adaptive reuse community that is rooted in history. At the same time, the future Bellforge Arts Center is helping to reactivate the campus with performances, arts, programming, public events and turning the site back into a social and cultural anchor.
We’ve already secured multiple rounds of Massachusetts historic rehabilitation tax credits, which are essential to high quality preservation. We are now finalizing the design and pricing and continuing to assemble the full financing package. There’s still some work to do, but we are thrilled about the progress that we’ve made, and are very much looking forward to getting shovels in the ground.
Q: Following the dismissal of an abutter lawsuit, when is the projected groundbreaking for your 150 Centre St. at Shawmut Station project in Dorchester?
A: We are applying to [state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities] for our last piece of financing needed to move to a closing. We just submitted our preapplication, giving us a reasonable time to close in time for construction start in early 2027.
Q: How will the Affordable Homes Act affect opportunities for public housing redevelopment?
A: It’s probably the biggest public housing reinvestment opportunity that we’ve seen in decades. It doesn’t solve every problem, but it materially expands the tools and capital for authorities and development partners to recapitalize and in many cases, comprehensively redevelop aging public housing. Layering this in with the MBTA Communities Act and other local moves to allow more multifamily and reduce parking, and you’ve got a policy environment that is very friendly to mixed-income, transit-oriented redevelopment of public housing.
We were just named 2025 development partner of the year by [the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials], which really recognizes the decades of work with housing authorities to transform some of the state’s largest public housing communities into mixed-income neighborhoods. So yes, under the Healey housing bill, we do expect to see more public housing redevelopment opportunities. The capital is there in a way we haven’t seen in a long time, and the next step is really pairing that with experienced partners and strong resident engagement, which is really exactly the space that Trinity likes to work in.
Q: What’s the history of Trinity Financial and its evolving focus in housing development?
A: Trinity was founded in 1987, so we are nearing four decades of community-focused, mixed-income development. We began in Greater Boston and then moved across New England to New York, helping to pioneer public-private partnerships, tax credit financing and adaptive reuse to revitalize neighborhoods. We began as a mission-driven urban developer taking on challenging sites – public housing, obsolete industrial properties, underutilized land – and transforming them into mixed-income housing.
That work really pushed us to get fluent in complex capital stacks, from low-income historic tax credits to various tools which enabled us to deliver deals that others might walk away from. We are now a fully integrated firm, from acquisition, permitting, financing, design, construction, all the way to long-term ownership and management. We’ve completed more than $3 billion in transformative development, multifamily housing, adaptive reuse, large-scale public housing redevelopment and transit-oriented communities.
What has not changed is our focus on urban environments that are complex, whether that’s politically, environmentally or economically, and where we can really make the biggest impact. So our model today, it’s broader. It’s deeper. But at the core, we are really still about the people, the places and the partners and making sure that the neighborhoods that we work in are stronger because we were a part of it.
Keefe’s Five Favorite Local Nonprofits Doing Great Things:
- Charlestown Mothers Association
- Artists Group of Charlestown
- Charlestown Youth Soccer Association
- North End Music & Performing Arts Center
- Bunker Hill Community College
