40 projects for over $24 million recommended for Community Preservation Act funding

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the City's Community Preservation Committee (CPC) yesterday recommended 40 projects, totaling more than $24 million, for inclusion in the next round for the Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding. The CPC held a public meeting yesterday to vote on the Mayor's recommended slate of projects for funding. The projects will be submitted to the Boston City Council for approval with an anticipated vote from the Council in the coming weeks.

"We're in the middle of a housing crisis that requires bold and creative solutions," said Mayor Walsh. "I'm proud that through this new round of funding, we are dedicating the majority of this funding round to affordable housing projects. All of these proposals will support our community in countless ways. We look forward to continuing to use this revenue to build on our work related to affordable housing, historic preservation and open space."

With this funding round, the City of Boston will have awarded over $67 million to support projects in every neighborhood since residents voted to adopt the Community Preservation Act in 2016. After a thorough review process of the applications received, the following projects are being recommended for funding:

CITYWIDE

• $4,000,000 for the Acquisition Opportunity Program to prevent displacement by purchasing existing private market rental units and making them permanently affordable, both protecting current tenants and safeguarding the City's affordable housing stock 

• $4,000,000 for the ONE+Boston program to help income-eligible first-time homebuyers receive downpayment assistance and a permanent reduction in the interest rate of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for Bostonians buying within city limits 

BACK BAY

• $95,000 to the Gibson House Museum to restore the ground floor structural system and its brick underpinning in order to maintain public safety and stability for the Victorian rowhouse

• $10,000 to the Charles River Esplanade to plant trees as part of their tree management and succession plan to restore the Arthur Shurcliff landscape and to increase Boston's tree canopy

BEACON HILL

• $340,000 to the Rogerson-Faneuil Apartments to restore the exterior masonry of the former school building that provides 48 affordable apartments for individuals and families

BRIGHTON

• $1,000,000 to contribute to the funding for 79 new affordable senior housing units, including 15 units set aside for formerly homeless households, through a redevelopment at the J.J. Carroll Apartments

• $539,000 for a new playground for the Winship Elementary School and surrounding neighborhood

CHARLESTOWN

• $400,000 to the John F. Kennedy Family Services Center to restore the slate roof and prevent water damage to the historic school building that provides child care, after school, and senior services

• $20,000 to the USS Constitution Museum to protect its collections by relocating the sprinkler system at risk of failing due to flooding and sea level rise

CHINATOWN

• $1,000,000 to the Parcel P-12C development on 290 Tremont Street that will provide 58 rental units, including 11 units set aside for formerly homeless individuals and families. The units will be part of a larger proposed mixed-use affordable housing project on a Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) owned parking lot 

• $500,000 to the Asian Community Development Corporation to purchase a vacant lot near the Chinatown Gate and Rose Kennedy Greenway for transformation into a neighborhood garden and gathering space

DORCHESTER

• $800,000 to Norwell Street Park to build a new park on four parcels of open space adjacent to Talbot Avenue Station on the Fairmount Line

• $250,000 to the Franklin Field Seniors Garden to build a new community garden for residents of Franklin Field and surrounds

• $400,000 to restore the steeple of the Second Church in Dorchester, one of the oldest wooden churches left in Boston, built in 1806 and home to a Paul Revere bell 

• $730,000 to the Dr. William W. Henderson Inclusion School for a new, fully accessible playground and school yard on its lower campus

• $150,000 to the Magnolia Street Garden to develop a permanent community garden and neighborhood plaza after serving as an informal gardening space for several years

• $20,000 to First Parish Dorchester, built in 1897, to remove and restore the Palladian window and complete the window restoration on the only Colonial-Revival clapboard meetinghouse in Boston

EAST BOSTON

• $400,000 to purchase the Donald McKay House, a Greek Revival style house built in 1844 by Donald McKay, the country's premier clipper ship designer, to preserve as a community asset

FENWAY/KENMORE

• $35,000 for the Harry Ellis Dickson Park to install an irrigation system and enable community members to continue to plant and maintain this pocket park

HYDE PARK

• $1,500,000 to renovate the James J. Chittick Elementary School yard and build an accessible neighborhood park and playground for students and the surrounding community, installing green infrastructure

JAMAICA PLAIN

• $1,500,000 to the Pine Street Inn and the Community Builders to build a portion of 140 units for formerly homeless individuals and 60 income-restricted units for families, at 3368 Washington Street

• $200,000 to the Haffenreffer Brewery complex to restore the roof and windows for a "Prosperity Center" providing small business services, job training, ESL classes, and other programs

• $200,000 to the Footlight Club, the country's oldest community theatre, to remediate structural problems and stabilize Eliot Hall, a Greek Revival wood-frame structure built in 1831

MATTAPAN

• $30,000 to the Morton St. Food Forest to plant fruit trees and build planting beds on a vacant lot on Morton Street

ROSLINDALE

• $5,000 to the Mount Hope Cemetery to plant trees and increase Boston's tree canopy in this historic burying ground on the border with Mattapan

ROXBURY

• $150,000 to the Egleston Peace Park to renovate this heavily used community space for arts, passive use, and neighborhood events

• $250,000 to Oasis @ Bartlett to create a new arts park for the community and for the residents of Bartlett Yard, a new affordable housing community near Nubian Square

• $40,000 to the Shirley-Eustis House to restore the wood shingle roof of the 1806 Carriage House to enhance its functionality as an accessible space for education, programs, and community use at the Georgian house museum

• $400,000 to the Nubian Gallery to restore the neo-Classical facade of the former Hamill Gallery on a surviving 19th-century commercial block in the Dudley Station Historic District

• $250,000 to the Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska Building to continue restoration of the historic windows, so that the Dimock Center can create a residential recovery program in the space for men with substance use disorder

• $400,000 to the Eliot Congregational Church, built in 1873, to restore the facade and roof in preparation for reuse of the underutilized spaces as affordable housing and a commercial kitchen

• $1,500,000 to the Fountain Hill development, creating 26 affordable homeownership opportunities in the Tommy's Rock neighborhood

• $750,000 to 2147 Washington Street in Nubian Square to contribute to the fund to build eight new affordable homeownership units for first-time homebuyers

• $1,000,000 to the Madison Park Community Development Corporation to contribute to the fund to build 15 new affordable units for first-time homebuyers at 75-81 Dudley Street. The units are part of a 20-unit, 100 percent affordable project recently approved by the BPDA at this location

SOUTH BOSTON

• $150,000 to Barnard Place to create a small park with planting beds, benches, and a bocce court

• $75,000 to the Kearsarge Memorial in Marine Park to replace the crumbling base and missing interpretive plaque, and restore the 1898 anchor honoring naval veterans of the USS Kearsarge, a class of battleships including one active ship in service today

SOUTH END

• $100,000 to the 1858 Francis Dane House, headquarters of the South End Historical Society, to repair windows and masonry on the facade of this Chester Square townhouse

WEST END

• $100,000 to the Greater Boston Legal Services to make repairs to the facade of their building in the Bulfinch Triangle Historic District

WEST ROXBURY

• $1,000,000 to B'nai B'rith Housing for the Residences off Baker development, which will contribute to the creation of 45 new affordable rental units, including eight units set aside for formerly homeless individuals and families

• $20,000 to Brook Farm, site of the transcendentalist experiment in the 1840s, for an archaeology dig and landscape improvements

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT (CPA)

After Boston voters adopted the CPA in November 2016, the City created a Community Preservation Fund. This fund is capitalized primarily by a one percent property tax-based surcharge on residential and business property tax bills that began in July 2017. The City uses this revenue to fund initiatives consistent with statewide CPA guidelines: affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space and public recreation. The funding of any project requires a recommendation from the Community Preservation Committee and appropriation by the City. For more information, please visit the Community Preservation webpage.