South Boston Infill and Small Developments

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^^^^Is this outside plumbing??!!!!???

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Probably not, because I don't think code allows for such, but it does so remind me of England.
 
beeline, stop spoiling a great story about spoils disposal.

Exterior drains were an improvement and extension of the previous method!

Medieval-sanitation.jpg
 
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OMG how long has it been since I've been to the corner of Dorchester Ave/St??! I can't believe the plumbing building is gone and construction underway!
 
This is actually turning out pretty cool and unique. In 50 years this is going to be a massive stock of funky and diverse townhouses unlike anywhere else I can think of. They also mix in with the older parts of the neighborhood too making a pretty unique place.
 
BeeLine said:
I don't understand why they aren't drasticly increasing the density of these projects. Phase III demo's 250 uint and creates 301. They use up all this land for a net gain 51 units when we have a housing crunch. They should be doubling the density at minimum.
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^What BeeLine said. There is so much potential on these sites, but BHA is doing what seems like the minimum possible.
 
FitchburgLine said:
^What BeeLine said. There is so much potential on these sites, but BHA is doing what seems like the minimum possible.
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I think unfortunately, the neighbors would have their pitchforks out if they did something like this. Southie has a lot of issues... with all the assholes who live there, from the old Southie types to the new Southie types
 
From what I know about affordable housing funding, which isn't much admittedly, the scale/massing decisions are made far outside of Boston. So the current trend nationally is away from density (Pruitt-Igoe haunts us). I saw a project in Roxbury where the funding sources wouldn't allow them to go above four stories. Even though market rate housing is never that small.

BeeLine said:
I don't understand why they aren't drasticly increasing the density of these projects. Phase III demo's 250 uint and creates 301. They use up all this land for a net gain 51 units when we have a housing crunch. They should be doubling the density at minimum.

Old-Colony-Phase-3-Notice-of-Project-Change

https://flic.kr/p/2gDUu4x

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTLpK

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTLEK

https://flic.kr/p/2gDUuWp

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTM6K
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Suffolk 83 said:
I think unfortunately, the neighbors would have their pitchforks out if they did something like this. Southie has a lot of issues... with all the assholes who live there, from the old Southie types to the new Southie types
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Not exactly a news flash but the warehousing and cramming of public housing tenants, especially into hi-rises, has been discredited for a long time. The pathologies of US social housing took a considerable while to be recognized but are today being addressed effectively, if not quite as fast or in the amounts as some would like. The razing and rebuilding of projects into places that are similar to what is considered market rate has and is happening all over this area. Many and likely most of those you are calling "assholes" are taxpayers helping to pay for the considerable cost of all this. A link to social housing trends in other countries:
https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/low-rise-high-density/
 
"Taxpayers" aren't paying for the "cost" of additional market rate development adjacent to public housing, because A: that's the whole point of the new financing mechanism and B: the cost is negative. What?
 
BeeLine said:
I don't understand why they aren't drasticly increasing the density of these projects. Phase III demo's 250 uint and creates 301. They use up all this land for a net gain 51 units when we have a housing crunch. They should be doubling the density at minimum.

Old-Colony-Phase-3-Notice-of-Project-Change

https://flic.kr/p/2gDUu4x

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTLpK

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTLEK

https://flic.kr/p/2gDUuWp

https://flic.kr/p/2gDTM6K
Click to expand...

As others have mentioned, most of the decisions for the density and number of units are outside the hands of BHA. These redevelopments are largely Federally funded. They control a lot of aspects of what can be built. They also control how many units can be built through the available funds (cannot build 1000 units with funding for 300!).

Unless you have a new magical pot of monies available for affordable housing, this is pretty much what you are going to get.
 
FitchburgLine said:
"Taxpayers" aren't paying for the "cost" of additional market rate development adjacent to public housing, because A: that's the whole point of the new financing mechanism and B: the cost is negative. What?
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I didn't say taxpayers were paying for any kind of market-rate construction.

Mixed-Finance Development description from BHA site:
Mixed-Finance is the model made familiar through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s federal HOPE VI program. It can transform an entire public housing development and the surrounding neighborhood through an array of financing sources including public housing capital funds, other public resources from state and local governments and federal low-income housing tax credits that generate private investment equity. Boston Housing Authority (BHA) has completed over three-quarters of billion dollars in mixed-finance public housing redevelopment projects over the past 15 years, producing more than 2,300 units of housing.
https://www.bostonhousing.org/en/De...te-Development/Mixed-Finance-Development.aspx

BHA page for Old Colony redevelopment financing:
https://www.bostonhousing.org/en/De...Finance-Development/Old-Colony-Phase-One.aspx

And from the Bay State Banner on Orient Heights financing:
The project is pegged at approximately $51.2 million. Speakers at the groundbreaking praised the political and corporate collaboration behind the complex financing package. Funding phase one is approximately $33 million in High Leverage Asset Preservation Program and state capital funds; $1 million in Boston Department of Neighborhood Development Neighborhood Housing Trust Funds; $18 million from Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, Inc.; and a $26.5 million construction loan from Citi Community Capital.
The city contributed an additional $10 million — generated from the sale of the Winthrop Square Garage — toward further improvements.
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2016...lic-housing-complex-to-be-demolished-rebuilt/

Plenty of fed and local tax money/public funds involved in these rebuilds.
 
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