Development

JPNDC Proposes 8 Affordable Units on Vacant Carolina Ave. and Call St. Parcels

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The city is holding a meeting to discuss the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation's (JPNDC) proposal to put three parcels together to build eight affordable units at Carolina Avenue and Call Street. JPNDC's proposal is for two 3-story, 4-unit buildings to be built on Call Street at the intersection of Carolina Avenue. Each building would have three 4-bedroom units and one 2-bedroom unit. Four of the units would be sold to homeowners at a maximum of 80% area median income, and four units would be rented at a maximum of 60% area median income. The proposal calls for eight off-street parking spaces, which may be reduced to six due to preliminary discussion with abutters.

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Neighborhood Life

Volunteers Wanted for Multiple JP Neighborhood Cleanups on April 21st

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Help the community looking good this Saturday as there will be cleanups in four different neighborhoods. Volunteers are wanted and there will be various things to do, so if you can't do heavy lifting -- that's fine! Tools and gloves will be provided, just be ready to get down and dirty for JP. JP Centre/South Main Streets' will be cleaning just what their name indicates -- along Centre and South streets. They will start at 9 am at the South Street Tennis Courts, and then head over to the municipal parking lot across from the Curley School. Tools and gloves will be provided, but you can certainly bring your own.

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Development

MassDOT Oakdale Street Parcel to Remain Community Garden; Four Parcels Sold

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Several parcels put up for public bidding by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) were recently purchased with affordable housing required as part of some of the purchases. MassDOT held a public meeting in June 2017 to provide an overview of seven parcels and present a draft for proposal requests. After several public meetings to solicit feedback the bid guidelines and parcels were altered. MassDOT incorporated several revisions that the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) asked for, as well as from public feedback, according to an email to Jamaica Plain News from Carolyn Royce, chair of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council Housing & Economic Development Committee. The parcel at 8 Oakdale Street was not put up for bid and will remain a community garden said Royce, and four parcels ended up being sold.

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Rendering of proposal for 25 Amory St.
Real Estate

Neighborhood Group to Consider 44-Unit Affordable Rental Complex

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Development is always big news in JP. And the Zoning Committee of the JP Neighborhood Council sees virtually every proposal of consequence. The neighborhood group meets Wednesday to consider two projects. The largest is a proposal from the JP Neighborhood Development Corp. to build 44 units of affordable rental housing at 25 Amory St.

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Jamaica Plain People
Julia Martin, 87, center, the community activist for whom the Julia Martin House is named, dances the Electric Slide during JP Porchfest on Saturday, July 9, 2016.

Watch Julia Martin, 87, Slay the Electric Slide

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Saturday's Porchfest coincided with another big community event -- the 10th anniversary of the Julia Martin House. The 55-unit building offers something scarce in JP: Affordable housing for the elderly. Julia Martin, the community activist the complex is named for, was guest of honor at Saturday's celebration. She's in purple in the short video below. The Julia Martin House is one of the many properties whose rents or sale prices are kept affordable by the JP Neighborhood Development Corp.

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Real Estate

Last Major Piece of Jackson Square Would Bring MIT-Style Architecture to JP

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The transformation of Jackson Square would continue with development of the last major piece of the puzzle bringing some MIT-style architecture to this side of the Charles. "Great work is happening in the past year," said Richard Thal, executive director of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, Tuesday night at a public meeting to describe the final plan for Jackson Square Phase III.  This is two buildings set around a courtyard at Amory and Centre streets. They will be developed by JPNDC and The Community Builders. "Eleven years ago the BRA [Boston Redevelopment Authority] designated us to put together a viable plan for new a neighborhood that had been torn apart [by I-95]," Thal said. The scattered site totals 11 acres.

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Real Estate

Joint Venture Including JPNDC Tapped to Renovate, Build More Than 500 Housing Units

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The Boston Housing Authority has designated Amory Partners, a joint venture of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., Urban Edge and The Community Builders, to redevelop 125 Amory St., a 215-unit public housing for elderly and disabled near Jackson Square. In a press release, the Housing Authority said, "Some of the key features and determining factors of the selection include preservation of existing public housing units and generation of up to $3 million in cross subsidy from new mixed income units. The second component is the new connection to the surrounding neighborhood to create a more integrated development. The final design will include a total of 509 units of which 185 will be market rate and 324 workforce/affordable." Amory Partners will add 214 new apartments in satellite  buildings on the vacant land of the site around the main building of Amory Apartments.

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Real Estate

Celebration and Jubilation as Walsh Officially Opens Jackson Commons in Jackson Square

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"This neighborhood deserves nothing but the best," said Mayor Marty Walsh at the opening ceremony Wednesday for Jackson Commons, a 37-unit residence at 1542 Columbus Ave. directly opposite the Jackson Square MBTA station. "Jackson Commons is 37 new homes," said Walsh. "OK, that's [only] 37 new homes. But that's 37 new homes we didn't have six months ago.

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Real Estate

City Mulls Choice Between Affordable Condos or Rentals to Replace Eyesore

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Egleston Square residents were given a choice on Wednesday for an empty city-owned six family house at 52 Montebello Road: Affordable home ownership for six first-time homebuyers by a team "who really knows ownership"; or a $1.3 million "gift" as part of the development of 3200 Washington Street for six permanently affordable rental units by another team who will "take no profit." John Feuerbach, senior development officer for the Department of Neighborhood Development, opened the meeting by saying "we are looking at 52 Montebello Road separately" from the 3200 Washington St. project.  There were three main criteria he said were heard at the first community meeting last December:

100 percent affordability
Long-term affordability
Thoughtful landscaping of the adjacent wooded slope

Feuerbach said there were two eligible applicants who would "present for 15 minutes each tonight." He said that there would be a two-week comment period closing on July 15 after which the Department of Neighborhood Development would make its choice in one or two months. First Pitch: Affordable Homeownership Units

Kevin Maguire of Oxbow Partners, 75 Arlington St.

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Alison Moronta, left, helps facilitate a meeting of business owners at The Haven on Wednesday, May 13, 2015.
Politics

JP Organization Seeks Help to Restore Small Biz Funding

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The JP Neighborhood Development Corp., known for its efforts at increasing affordable housing, is also an important backer of the neighborhood's small businesses. And the tax dollars that support a key program, Small Business Technical Assistance, aren't in the state Senate's budget (or the governor's, for that matter.)

Alison Moronta, business development director for the JPNDC, issued an urgent call at a Wednesday meeting of neighborhood business owners. She asked participants in a Hyde Jackson Main Street networking session at The Haven to call or write legislators, urging them to restore $2 million to the program. David Warner, co-owner of City Feed, said he'd already contacted legislators. "Our business wouldn't exist without the JPNDC," he told the crowd of about 20 business owners.

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