On Wednesday, January 17th, 2024 CREW Boston learned about some very exciting developments in South Boston at our January Luncheon Program. The panel, moderated by CREW Boston Board member Gretchen McGill, Senior Vice President, Construction at Davis, included Darcy Jameson, Vice President at Beacon Communities Development; Leah Harsfield, Principal and Director of Asset Management and Leasing at National Development; and Michael Cahill, Senior Vice President of Development at Core Investments, Inc.
All three panelists spoke about their ongoing work along the Dorchester Avenue Corridor. A focus on placemaking and long-term development strategies linked the three projects together, offering the audience a multifaceted look at ongoing and future investment in an evolving and emerging section of the South Boston neighborhood.
Darcy Jameson kicked off the discussion with an overview of Beacon Communities continued work at Old Colony, revitalizing Boston’s oldest public housing development. Starting with the history of the neighborhood as short-term housing for returning soldiers and their families in a post war era, Darcy spoke about the efforts over the past 15 years to re-envision the plan with better view corridors, correctly scaled street for a good pedestrian experience, and methods to knit the entire development back into the community’s social fabric. With sustainability and climate resilience at the forefront, the initial phase of the Old Colony master plan included the first LEED Platinum certified all affordable housing project in the state. The most recent phase 3c building was a 100% affordable senior housing project which won a national award for its Passive House design. Nearing the end of the master planning implementation in the current market, the development has shifted away from the townhome typology of the previous plan and into more midrise construction to provide more inventory and support the affordable housing demand in Boston.
Leah Harsfield then presented the exciting early stages work National Development has been doing at Iron Works. Speaking about the soul and the pride of the community, Leah talked about the decisions to keep the existing industrial buildings on site that were strongly rooted in the community and National’s approach to their adaptive reuse. With 180,000 square feet of new retail, the development is delivering an experiential retail they’ve recruited to create an identity of making and creation while also focusing on tenants who could bring daily and year-round community programming to boost activation of the area. Proximity to the red line was a major selling point for National and will play an important role in the longer-term planning. Future development includes larger residential program and some commercial space while still focusing on the community-first retail experience for small businesses to bolster the ground floor interaction and activation.
Michael expanded on the importance of community engagement and relations when he talked about the work Core Investments has been doing with the On The Dot project. Core Investments has been in the neighborhood quietly acquiring parcels for the last 10+ years, creating a contiguous 21-acre piece of land on which to build 3.7 million square feet across 11 buildings, and delivering significant community benefits. With the motto of “For now. For good.” the development team has been working in the community to create place and belonging with smaller interventions that have been successful in establishing a strong relationship with residents and local business owners. The Cannonball Café is a great example of local business support in activating a temporary open space with community-focused programming that will begin to influence the permanent offerings as the development and the buildings come online in the future.
All three projects were a great snapshot of the exciting things to come in this reinvigorated South Boston neighborhood, both now and in the many years to come. Thanks to our panelists Darcy, Leah, and Michael as well as our moderator Gretchen for giving us an inspiring look at long term investment in a vibrant community.
