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Image courtesy of Sasaki and Embarc Studio
A partnership between The Davis Cos. and an East Boston health center proposes a six-building, 426-unit multifamily project, including 60 income-restricted units designed for families to address the neighborhood’s displacement pressures.
The 3.2-acre site includes five parcels on Maverick, Bremen and Orleans streets currently occupied by surface parking, storage buildings and a small office.
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Inc., which owns four of the parcels, has agreed to sell three to The Davis Cos. and will use the proceeds to shore up its health programs and facilities, according to a project notification form submitted to the Boston Planning & Development Agency. A fourth will be sold to East Boston Community Development Corp., which will manage the affordable units.
The Davis Cos. also plans to acquire the fifth parcel at 156-158 Maverick St., which contains a small office building.
Designed by Sasaki Assoc. and Embarc Studio, the project would include the following elements:
- 156-158 Maverick St. would be combined with an adjacent lot to house a 10-unit residential building with 900 square feet of office space for the current tenant;
- 75-115 Bremen St. would be developed with 20 townhouses in a pair of two-story buildings;
- 135B Bremen St. is designated for a 222-unit residential building and a 2,600-square-foot ground floor retail space.
- 147-163 Orleans St. would be developed with 104 housing units and 830 square feet of commercial space.
- 164 Orleans St. would house a 70-unit residential building.
The unit mix includes at least 292 apartments and at least 20 condos, with the remainder yet to be determined, the filing states.
Concerns over displacement and gentrification in East Boston have factored into BPDA reviews of recent projects in East Boston including the 10 million-square-foot Suffolk Downs redevelopment. In 2020, the BPDA adopted a fair housing amendment that adds a review of the effects of new development on historically-discriminated neighborhoods.
The East Boston project would include a substantial affordable component at 16.5 percent, exceeding the city’s minimum threshold of 13 percent. East Boston Community Development Corp. would own and manage 70 income-restricted units designated as deeply affordable, with 36 units reserved for households earning a maximum 60 percent of area median income, 18 units at 50 percent AMI and 16 units at 30 percent AMI.
And developers plan to include Spanish language marketing materials and seek to hire multilingual brokers.
“Although there is not a history of exclusion in this area, TDC recognizes that the displacement that is occurring in the neighborhood is disproportionately impacting the Latinx community,” the PNF states.
Development is partially constrained by the proximity to Logan International Airport. Massport owns an easement on 135B Bremen St. which prohibits building heights above 100 feet, and requires buildings to be designed with maximum indoor noise levels of 45 decibels. The proposed 218,500-square-foot structure on the parcel has an 81-foot height.
