This month, the Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) selected the Joseph Corcoran Company as its development partner in a bid to secure competitive state funding for a comprehensive reconstruction of the Innes Development on Central Avenue into mixed-income housing. The CHA rejected an alternative proposal from a local partnership between The Neighborhood Developers (TND) and the Beacon Companies.
Known for transforming Columbia Point in Dorchester and selected last year by the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) to redevelop Bunker Hill Housing Development in Charlestown, Corcoran brings substantial experience in mixed-income housing redevelopment. According to CHA Director Al Ewing, “fblikebutton_button”You had TND with the Beacon Companies and the Corcoran Company. We could only go with one and we went with the one we felt best addressed the requirements of the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) from the state Department of Housing and Community Development. We chose Corcoran because we felt we had a proposal from them that had a very good chance of being funded by [the state].”fblikebutton_button” Ewing further noted, We’re fortunate to have had two good proposals.
The selection represents only a preliminary step. The entire initiative depends on state approval of a nearly $5 million grant through the Notice of Funding Availability process. Without this funding from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, the project would not move forward.
Earlier this year, the CHA announced its intention to pursue a public-private partnership aimed at rebuilding the Innes Development into a new mixed-income community that would preserve all existing public housing units while introducing market-rate options. The Corcoran proposal envisions a $100 million development featuring 318 total units: 96 public housing units in their current configurations (42 two-bedrooms, 48 three-bedrooms, and 6 four-bedrooms) integrated with 222 market-rate units across four new six-story buildings with surface and below-grade parking, a community clubhouse, fitness center, and retail space.
Financing would consist of 80 percent private funding through equity and mortgage debt, supplemented by $4.8 million in DHCD funding and a $3 million MassWorks grant. Ewing indicated he would negotiate a 99-year ground lease to protect the public housing component should the state fund the proposal. Residents would be temporarily relocated with the right to return to new units.
This is a good potential redevelopment project for our residents, but it is only a potential right now, Ewing stated. Residents will be engaged immediately if we get the funding from the state. While we have preliminary ideas that were designed just for the purpose of entering the process, if we are funded, our first step will be to engage the residents, neighbors, and the greater community in regards to our plans.
According to Ewing, such public-private partnerships represent the only viable path to obtaining the capital necessary for rebuilding aging public housing developments, given that state and federal governments lack sufficient resources for this purpose.