Urgently needed affordable housing will get another boost in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, thanks to a redevelopment leveraging a distinctive resident ownership model. Longtime partners VHB and developer WinnDevelopment, the development arm of WinnCompanies, are teaming with the Mission Main public housing community’s Tenant Task Force to redevelop an underused parking lot as a mixed-use building with 114 affordable units for seniors.
The Mission Main Tenant Task Force successfully collaborated with WinnDevelopment for its recent $66 million occupied rehabilitation of one of Boston’s largest affordable communities—the 535-unit, 32-building Mission Main which houses 1,700 residents. Situated within the Mission Main footprint, the Ward Street Senior Housing project will build upon that momentum with a resident-guided approach to provide seniors aged 62 and older quality housing to age in place. The Ward Street community will be comprised of 114 deeply affordable units with tenant rents capped at 30 percent of household gross income.
WinnDevelopment tapped VHB, its trusted engineering consultant on dozens of projects over the past 20 years, to lead the project’s survey, civil engineering, and landscape architecture efforts. With the project situated in a special overlay district, the VHB team’s extensive permitting experience in the City of Boston will be critical to smoothly advance it through a complex approvals process.
Tailored to the needs of older adults, the Ward Street project will create an aging-in-place environment emphasizing accessibility based on Universal Design principles; neighborhood connectivity with enhanced sidewalks, landscaping, and lighting; and sustainability through meeting stringent Passive House energy-efficiency standards. The seven-story, approximately 103,571-square-foot building will offer ground-floor retail and service provider space, bicycle parking, and 39 parking spaces.
Extending its support for WinnCompanies’ affordable community-oriented work beyond the Ward Street project, VHB recently made a sizable donation to the company’s in-house non-profit, the Connected Communities Foundation (CCF). CCF supports Mission Main and more than 282 other affordable housing communities nationwide in 18 states and the District of Columbia with health, housing, education, employment, and economic mobility resources. Through its employee-led VHB Cares philanthropic program, VHB has contributed more than $5 million to charitable organizations like CCF.
“VHB and WinnDevelopment share a commitment to empowering our communities to thrive through projects like Mission Main Ward Street Senior Housing and CCF’s vital work,” said Elizabeth Grob, VHB’s New England Real Estate Market Leader. “Whether working closely with residents to revitalize a parcel with critically needed affordable senior housing or supporting families in affordable housing with the resources they need, we continue to make meaningful differences together.”
Discover how VHB is partnering with developers and municipalities to address critical housing needs in New England.
