Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- A recent letter filed by the Boston Planning and Development Agency regarding the redevelopment of Suffolk Downs indicates that the City of Boston is gearing up to review its inclusionary zoning policy and is expected to "increase the level of affordability requested of developers." In its letter, BPDA urged developer HYM Investment Group to aim higher than the 13 percent affordable housing required under the current policy.

In her first state of the city address, newly elected mayor Ruthanne Fuller cited housing as one of her priorities. Fuller highlighted a plan to update zoning that would identify areas where more housing makes sense and her proposal to hire a firm that would engage the community in coming up with a master plan for the Washington St, corridor, a key transit-oriented stretch parallel to the Mass Pike and the commuter rail. (Scroll down her speech. It's after the third set of bullet points).

With support from MHP, DHCD and the Boston Foundation, The Neighborhood Developers of Chelsea and Nuesta Comunidad of Boston are forming a new Opportunity Communities initiative in which the two CDCS will join to create an organization model that will sustain each's individual mission while integrating staff to form an efficient administrative platform.

IPSWICH --- A 194-unit housing proposal that has drawn criticism from residents and elected officials has received what's known as a Project Eligibility Letter from the state, the requirement local businessman John Bruni needed to apply to the town's Zoning Board of Appeals for a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit. (Note: MHP is the subsidizing agency that provided the PEL).

FRAMINGHAM --- Drawing on her experience of living downtown when she first moved to Framingham in the 1980s, newly elected mayor Yvonne Spicer told a community forum of about 75 residents that the city needs to build on recent permitting for downtown housing by encouraging other types of development that will draw and keep people downtown.

BOSTON --- Madison Park Development Corp. recently celebrated the grand opening of 30 mixed-income apartments on the original location of the Tropical Foods grocery store. Called Nine Williams, it's another phase in Madison Park's efforts to redevelop the Melnea Cass Boulevard site. Tropical Foods now has a bigger store location on the parcel next to Nine Williams.