Housing Scheme

Roxbury Crossing

Additional, affordable housing in Boston’s transit-rich neighborhoods near public transit nodes like Roxbury Crossing is crucial to accommodate current and new residents of all income levels. There is low to moderate population density in the Roxbury Crossing zone. It is possible to raise residential density further, because 75% of the zone is tax exempt property and of the 25% left, 19% is in low density to medium density. Because there is not a lot of completely vacant land (there are established communities) and it is important to avoid displacement, creative solutions to overcome the socioeconomic challenges of the area will be needed to take advantage of existing infrastructure and actual use. We have identified three sites for development.

Opportunity 1 : United States Postal Service Roxbury Post Office

We recommend the City of Boston:

take ownership of the parcel,
put mixed-used development with affordable high-density housing,
put the parking underground, and
give the USPS a 100-year lease for $1 as the main tenant on the ground floor.

Current Post Office site

Vision for Post Office site

Opportunity 2 : Parcel 25

A new development across the street from the Roxbury Crossing stations is Parcel 25, a plot of vacant land formerly owned by the MBTA and currently at the board-approved Stage of construction with the Boston Planning and Development Agency. The project description calls for:

305,000 sq ft of phased development;
88 rental units;
7,500 sq ft of community space;
11,000 sq ft of retail;
185,000 sq ft of office space; and
178 parking spaces.

There are two parking lots next to Parcel 25 that are underutilized land used primarily during business hours. We identified the two lots as an opportunity area for a public-private partnership, best suited for a cooperative model with collaboration between Wentworth and Mission Hill Neighborhood Housing Services to build higher density affordable housing and mixed-use buildings.

Opportunity 3: Bartlett Place

Bartlett Place is a BPDA board approved mixed-used residential, retail and commercial development. Bartlett Place

will be the largest homeownership development in the history of Roxbury. The project will provide

market-rate as well as moderate-income housing. Bartlett Place master plan calls for:

Creation of 400 construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs
323 units housing (194 rentals and 129 units for homeownership)
476,000 sq ft of residential space
27,000 sq ft of retail
27,000 sq ft of commercial

Along with housing, there will also be a year-round public market, local stores and a host of new

shopping opportunities for residents. All of this will be located on approximately 8.59 acre brownfield site at 2565 Washington Street.

Background Image courtesy of Nick DeWolf