Real Estate Development

The Real Estate Development department was at work on a wide variety of projects in 2008, expanding Nuestra’s presence as a citywide developer while finding new ways to revitalize and serve neighborhoods in which we already have an established presence. In May, we observed the Grand Opening of Phase B of our Adams Court project in Mattapan; the development was spared from conversion into market-rate housing and now contains 95 units of affordable housing, including handicapped-accessible units. Just a few weeks later, Mayor Menino cut the ribbon on the doors of 35 West Newton Street, a beautifully renovated historic building in the South End that now includes 34 SRO apartments.

As communities within our traditional service area all suffered the ongoing effects of the foreclosure crisis, however, our Real Estate Development staff was called upon to apply their years of expertise to revitalizing neighborhoods in Roxbury and North Dorchester to stave off and eliminate physical decay in the wake of building foreclosure and abandonment. Following the City’s identification of the Dacia FIT area as one of three areas most in need of intervention, two projects in our pipeline found themselves increasingly relevant. The former Kasanof bakery site, located on Blue Hill Avenue in the center of the FIT area, is the planned location for a new development that will contain 71 units of affordable housing and 3,500 square feet of commercial retail space. In addition to bringing new housing and business opportunities to a formerly vacant spot, this project will be a vital means for job creation within our communities. Just blocks away is Quincy Commons, Nuestra’s first development designed exclusively for low-income seniors based on feedback collected from a lengthy community design process. Low-income seniors are among the hardest hit by the recent economic turmoil, as many of them face the threat of eviction and homelessness. The Quincy Commons development will soon provide affordable housing for 40 seniors while serving as a model for housing as an interventional tool. In 2008, Nuestra secured $5.3 million in HUD funding for this innovative project.

Additionally, our Real Estate Development department undertook one of our most ambitious and significant projects to date: the purchase, renovation, and return to market of foreclosed and abandoned project within the Dacia FIT area. Two such properties are already within our portfolio and undergoing renovations; ultimately, a dozen abandoned homes will be returned to the market as opportunities for local first-time homebuyers. In this way, we are stopping the onset of neighborhood abandonment and decay even as we bring new housing, employment, and retail opportunities to these communities.