Re: Parcel 24
BRA Holds Community Meeting for Parcel 24
Apr 4, 2008
Dozens of community members turned out on March 13 to show their support for Parcel 24 at a Boston Redevelopment Authority meeting.
Parcel 24, a joint venture between The New Boston Fund and the Asian Community Development Corp., is 325-unit mixed-income smart-growth development that will provide much needed housing while restoring the fabric of the neighborhood which existed on Chinatown?s Hudson Street more than 40 years ago. In the 1960s, homes and businesses on the east side of Hudson Street were cleared to make way for a highway ramp. The removal of the ramp as part of the Big Dig allows this block, bordered by Hudson, Kneeland, and Albany streets, to be re-knit into the urban fabric and provide a sustainable development. The project enjoys enthusiastic and almost universal support amongst Chinatown residents and organizations, as well as having the support of numerous city officials.
?I strongly support this project. My family often speaks of Hudson Street and the how vibrant it used to be. I think that with this project, history will not have to repeat itself and the street will go back to being what it once was,? said Phil Thao Truong, a junior at Boston Latin High School and Chinatown resident.
The goal for Parcel 24 is to have up to fifty percent of the total residential units be affordable, including at least 70 rental apartments, and 66-99 condos. Another 156-189 condos will be market rate. The project is committed to being more deeply affordable than required. At Parcel 24, affordability guidelines range from 30 to 60 percent of the area median income for the rental apartments. The affordable condos will be available to households making an average of 80 percent of AMI, with condos reserved for households making about 60 percent of area median income.
Parcel 24 also will have more than 6,000 square feet of community space, about 5,500 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, 159-199 underground parking spaces for residents, landscaped sidewalks and about 10,000 square feet of terraced open space that provides access between Hudson and Albany Streets.
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority designated the Parcel 24 team- ACDC and New Boston- as the developer for the site in 2006. New Boston is an industry leader in providing real estate investment, development and management services and ACDC is a non-profit, community-based organization with a mission of improving the quality of life for Asian Americans in Greater Boston. The scope of the project is the result of extensive community input. Among those who attended the meeting last night at the Doubletree Hotel in Chinatown to express their support for the project were Mayor Menino?s Department of Neighborhood Development, City Councilor Sam Yoon?s office and the office of City Councilor Bill Linehan.
The meeting was hosted by the BRA for public discussion of the Project Notification Form for Parcel 24 that was filed with the BRA on February 15, 2008.
The PNF describes all of the features of the proposed project and is available for public viewing at the BRA, Asian CDC office, and Boston Public Library, and is open to public comment. The public comments are due in writing to Tai Y. Lim at the BRA by March 27, 2008. After reviewing the PNF and public comments, the BRA will issue a scoping determination, which describes the specific issues that the Parcel 24 team must study.
Construction is expected to begin on Parcel 24 in late 2009 or early 2010.
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