Beacon Street Phase I & II:

The units at 167-181 Beacon Street, as part of Beacon Street Phase I, and units at 183-200 Beacon Street, as part of Beacon Street Phase II have been completed and the new low and moderate income buyers have been residing there as early as 2003. The ethnicity of these buyers is reflective of the racial diversity of the neighborhood as a whole. Beacon Street Phase II designs retained more of the “Green” features of the housing construction, but allowed for the structures to be built conventionally. City and State grant funding was used to complete the construction of Beacon Street Phase I & II.

The Main South CDC was the General Contractor for the site preparation work and for the construction of the foundations. In this way we were able to keep the cost down and maximize the affordability of the housing. In developing the housing we were striving to ensure that it is environmentally friendly as well as maintaining its high quality and affordability. As in all our housing, we try to maximize the energy efficiency features.

The development cost of the housing was approximately $175,000 per unit. The CDC received $400,000 of HOME funds from the City to subsidize the development of the first eight units and a further $400,000 from the State for the second eight units. This ensured the affordability of each modular unit. Each townhouse unit was sold to families earning less than 80% of the City median income.

Another interesting feature of the housing development is that the CDC leases the land to the new homeowners. It has developed and implemented a ground lease for Beacon Street Phase I & II. In this way the CDC can ensure the continued maintenance of the properties through setting aside a monthly ground lease payment. This lease payment will be escrowed for such purposes as replacing shared structural elements. It is noteworthy that the future buyers of the housing were involved in the development of the ground lease and that they supported the concept of a ground lease arrangement to ensure the upkeep of the properties.

As well as the new housing construction work, the CDC is also targeting extensive renovations of some existing properties. Because we had purchased several three deckers as part of our land assembly activities for the Boys and Girls Club, we decided that rather than demolish them, a more cost effective approach would be to physically move the buildings to some nearby vacant sites and renovate them.

We have completed the relocation of all four three-family buildings to Hollis Street and acquired and renovated a fifth abandoned property on Gardner Street. Financing was provided by the LIFE Initiative to support renovation costs. All five three-family structures have been sold to low and moderate income first-time homebuyers. The CDC received $925,000 of State and Federal HOME funding to support in the redevelopment of these fifteen units of affordable housing.

The Main South CDC has also obtained site control of the land across the street from these relocated buildings on Hollis Street and seven vacant lots on Kilby Streets that are being developed as part of the KGH Phase IIIA and KGH Phase IIIB Development Projects.





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