Edward M. Kennedy Institute | Columbia Point | Dorchester

What was on this part of Columbia Point before UMass-Boston and the JFK Library? Or was it landfilled specifically to build these two institutions?
 
It was the city dump until the 1950s. BC High bought the whole area, made their campus then sold off pieces to all the different organizations around it.
 
The only 2 state schools that really deserve the University name are Bridgewater and Salem. Westfield State is a joke and Framingham, aside form teaching, is too.

Anyways, would any of you agree that Columbia Point has been cleaned up a good amount from say 25-30 years ago?
 
UMass-Boston doesn't look much different from 30 years ago, except for the new Campus Center building.
 
mass88 said:
The only 2 state schools that really deserve the University name are Bridgewater and Salem. Westfield State is a joke and Framingham, aside form teaching, is too.

Anyways, would any of you agree that Columbia Point has been cleaned up a good amount from say 25-30 years ago?
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yes it has!I would'nt be caught dead there 25 yrs ago,now I have friends who live there and it's quite nice!
 
What was so bad about UMass-Boston 25 years ago compared to now?
 
I think the overall atmosphere at Columbia Point is what's being referenced, Ron. It was a bit tough out there 25 years ago. It's certainly better now, and UMass-Boston has benefited from the overall improvements to the area.
 
Community Rises From Boston Slum
By SUSAN DIESENHOUSE, Special to the New York Times
Published: November 15, 1987

BOSTON, Nov. 13? A new waterfront community is rising from the remains of the Columbia Point housing project, which has long been considered symbolic proof that public housing has failed.

Columbia Point's towers were built 30 years ago on a peninsula alongside an impassable expressway, blocking 1,504 black and Hispanic households from harbor views and the closest neighborhoods: white South Boston and Dorchester. Neglect, dirt, crime and racial conflict chased away all but 350 families over the last decade.

Now the remaining tenants and a private development team are transforming the ruin into Harbor Point, a $210 million complex of town houses, garden apartments and small apartment buildings. Two buildings for the elderly will open in February and 400 units for low-income families are to become available in the spring. The project is to be completed in 1990. Tennis, Swimming and Day Care

With space for 1,283 families, Harbor Point will be almost as big as the ill-fated project it replaces. But the similarity ends there.

Residents will be of mixed incomes and races. All residents are to have access to a clubhouse, swimming pools, tennis courts, a beach, retail stores, a health center, social services, day care and shuttle buses to the subway. Most will pay $700 to about $1,600 a month for units ranging from one to six bedrooms. But the 400 poor families, most of them current residents of Columbia Point, will receive subsidies to limit their rent to 30 percent of their income.

Housing experts around the nation are watching to see whether it might represent a blueprint for rescuing deteriorated public housing projects.

The preliminary assessments are enthusiastic. Tenants Led the Way

''The development is far enough along to see that it will succeed,'' said Michael A. Stegman, chairman of the planning department at the University of North Carolina. ''It is extraordinarily ambitious in its scale - the public-private cooperation and inclusion of families on site to make a mixed-income community.

''But most impressive is the tremendous amount of learning it will offer about how to turn around a very difficult social environment into a safe, pleasant, integrated community.''

Tenants played a central role in the transformation. In 1978, angered by squalor and crime, they formed a task force that helped halt a poorly run Federal modernization effort, said Ruby Jundoo, a 22-year resident and the task force's spokesman.

In 1980, a Federal court took over management of Columbia Point from the Boston Housing Authority. In 1981, with improvement in full flower in nearby neighborhoods, the tenants signed an agreement with the city stipulating that any new development at Columbia Point offer at least 400 units for low-income people. 'We Had Butterflies'

''We didn't know what would happen here but it was clear that with all the beautiful things going up around us, they wouldn't let this eyesore remain,'' Ms. Jundoo said. In 1983 the tenants worked with the court-appointed director to choose a developer and formed a partnership. In 1984 the developer took over management of Columbia Point amid some trepidation among tenants.

''Residents feared it would not work,'' Ms. Jundoo said. ''How will we get financing or draw new residents with Columbia Point's reputation? We had butterflies for months.''

Tenants worked with the developer on the new design that opens up waterfront vistas and helped obtain permits, financing and a 99-year lease for the 50-acre site at $1 a year. 'Now I'm a Little Resentful'

Some residents say they already see changes in the buildings and people. Esther Santos, who has lived at Columbia Point for 25 years, said: ''There's a lot less litter and pests. Repairs are faster and better. There's less violent crime and a renewed fight against drugs with our new armed security force.''

Still, fear lingers among some residents that the new arrivals will overwhelm or dispossess them. Martha Bush, a 20-year resident, said: ''I was happy at first but now I'm a little resentful. The new families will be very wealthy. I don't believe we, the poor, will be as free as they. We're really going to be watched. Already the new security is harrassing the teens and some families had to move.''

According to Ms. Jundoo, tenants may only be evicted by the task force to which all residents belong. Four families have been evicted since 1984, for drug use, weapons violations or nonpayment of rent. Different From Public Housing

The project's managing partner, Corcoran, Mullins & Jennison, a real estate developer, has built three similar, smaller projects in Massachusetts and Maryland, ''It works when it's a real partnership between all the residents and the developer or landlord,'' said Joseph E. Corcoran, one of the firm's partners, ''The low-income people are not identified as such and are dispersed though the site. We'll have a lot of opportunites for the new and old families to mix on the governing board, through social and recreational activities, tutoring for the kids.''

He noted that the development differs from conventional public housing in that it must attract families who could afford to pay the rents prevailing in other desirable neighborhoods. A Symbol of Failure

''It has to look right and run right to keep the market rate people,'' Mr. Corcoran said.

If he is wrong, the state's taxpayers will pay; the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency lent $154 million for the project. The Federal Government provided another $62 million in grants and tax credits.

Marvin Sifflinger, the housing agency's director, said the state was willing to assume the risk because of a dire need for housing. Also, he said, ''Columbia Point was a symbol of the failure of public housing; it put a chill on getting all other assisted development approved.''

Housing experts say the risk is minimal. ''It will work because there's more magic in the waterfront location than there is harm in the name of Columbia Point,'' said William C. Apgar, associate professor of planning at Harvard University.

There's also enthusiasm. As a 13-year-old resident, Anthony Cruz, put it: ''It'll be great to meet new people from outside. We'll learn their ways of life, if they're different. Some could be from other countries, some handicapped, maybe. And if they're rich, they'll just be rich.''
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Came across this in some old papers my mom has. It comes from the Globe's old weekly pictures magazine:

4842429557_a432bfbf22_b.jpg


4843046406_56caacb220_b.jpg
 
Building him a pyramid might have been a little much.
 
to be fair how often will you be seeing this building from this vantage point?
 
and isn't that the old design for Cambridge rather than Dorchester?
 
Sure would have been better than what poor old JFK finally got. Better location too.
 
ablarc said:
Sure would have been better than what poor old JFK finally got. Better location too.
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for real? What about this drawing do you find such a vast improvement? I'm no fan of pei, nor of the massing of the building, but moving through the building, and around it down to the water, are two of the more remarkable spatial experiences in the city. They capitalize on its location, which is not without its flaw, but it has much to offer.
 
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