Tai Tung Village Expansion | 288 Harrison Avenue | Chinatown

85 affordable units isn't nothing, especially if you're basically building them on an empty lot. But the potential at this site is what's killing me. The radian has 240 units (and 70 parking spaces), meaning you could plop one of those there and add an additional 155 units. Even if the additional units were all market rate (2/3rds of the building), that would be a net gain of housing where it's badly needed.

NEI's affordable housing contracting also left a lot to be desired at 88 Hudson. See the last few pages of the One Greenway thread for a taste of the disgust at the design and materials - and they've also had lots of ongoing quality control issues like window and roof leaks since day 1. One benefit of a mixed development like 99 Kneeland/66 Hudson is that the affordable tenants get the same fixtures as the market-rates.
 
MjolnirMan said:
85 affordable units isn't nothing, especially if you're basically building them on an empty lot. But the potential at this site is what's killing me. The radian has 240 units (and 70 parking spaces), meaning you could plop one of those there and add an additional 155 units. Even if the additional units were all market rate (2/3rds of the building), that would be a net gain of housing where it's badly needed.

NEI's affordable housing contracting also left a lot to be desired at 88 Hudson. See the last few pages of the One Greenway thread for a taste of the disgust at the design and materials - and they've also had lots of ongoing quality control issues like window and roof leaks since day 1. One benefit of a mixed development like 99 Kneeland/66 Hudson is that the affordable tenants get the same fixtures as the market-rates.
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A lot of the issues you are describing are common issues with Suffolk Construction the GM on One Greenway/88 Hudson (and many low bid Boston projects). Suffolk has a solid reputation of cutting corners to be the low bid. They had major issues with the Metropolitan, 1 Nassau as well, in both the affordable and market rate floors.
 
Substantial demo work on the surface parking lot today

IMG_20221228_143914789.jpg
 
JeffDowntown said:
A lot of the issues you are describing are common issues with Suffolk Construction the GM on One Greenway/88 Hudson (and many low bid Boston projects). Suffolk has a solid reputation of cutting corners to be the low bid. They had major issues with the Metropolitan, 1 Nassau as well, in both the affordable and market rate floors.
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Today I learned.. how knowledgeable are you to make this statement? Genuine question, I have no idea if this is really their reputation or if this is just widely known by those who are in the know.
What about Turner?
 
MassDevelopment issues $25.978m tax-exempt bond for affordable housing facility
288%20Harrison%20Avenue%20-%20MassDev.jpeg

“Boston, MA MassDevelopment has issued a $25.978 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Harrison Affordable LLC, an affiliate of Beacon Communities and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England (CCBA), which will use proceeds to build an 85-unit affordable rental housing facility at 288 Harrison Ave. in the Chinatown neighborhood. The building, dubbed 288 Harrison Residences, will be constructed on what is currently a surface parking lot serving the Tai Tung Village affordable housing community, also owned by CCBA. The organization recognized the development potential of the property and chose Beacon Communities as its development partner in 2019. Construction started in December 2022 and will be complete in fall 2024. Citizens purchased the bond, which helped the developers achieve a lower cost of capital…”

https://nerej.com/massdev-issues-25-978m-tax-exempt-bond-for-affordable-housing-facility
 
stick n move said:
MassDevelopment issues $25.978m tax-exempt bond for affordable housing facility
288%20Harrison%20Avenue%20-%20MassDev.jpeg

“Boston, MA MassDevelopment has issued a $25.978 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Harrison Affordable LLC, an affiliate of Beacon Communities and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England (CCBA), which will use proceeds to build an 85-unit affordable rental housing facility at 288 Harrison Ave. in the Chinatown neighborhood. The building, dubbed 288 Harrison Residences, will be constructed on what is currently a surface parking lot serving the Tai Tung Village affordable housing community, also owned by CCBA. The organization recognized the development potential of the property and chose Beacon Communities as its development partner in 2019. Construction started in December 2022 and will be complete in fall 2024. Citizens purchased the bond, which helped the developers achieve a lower cost of capital…”

https://nerej.com/massdev-issues-25-978m-tax-exempt-bond-for-affordable-housing-facility
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This is good but perhaps goes without saying . . . should be much taller to max out the density on this site.
 
JeffDowntown said:
I am sure everyone involved agrees this should be bigger.

No one is handing out big enough checks for affordable housing to build more than this 5 over 1 construction.
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Totally understood, but seems like a good place to work on a collaboration with a private developer to create some market rate housing along with it, similar to Whittier Choice Phase 3 in Roxbury. Ink Block's a stone's throw away . . . just seems like a missed opportunity to increase the overall housing production.
 
lainpimicaja said:
Totally understood, but seems like a good place to work on a collaboration with a private developer to create some market rate housing along with it, similar to Whittier Choice Phase 3 in Roxbury. Ink Block's a stone's throw away . . . just seems like a missed opportunity to increase the overall housing production.
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Probably a missed opportunity, but not the focus of CCBA, the philanthropic org behind Tai Tung Village. Tai Tung Village is 100% affordable housing, much of it a low % of AMI, so heavily subsidized. They are not in the game to develop market rate housing.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Probably a missed opportunity, but not the focus of CCBA, the philanthropic org behind Tai Tung Village. Tai Tung Village is 100% affordable housing, much of it a low % of AMI, so heavily subsidized. They are not in the game to develop market rate housing.
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.........so THIS is where an enlightened city government would step in and coordinate a PARTNERSHIP on this excellent location/opportunity to hit two birds with one stone - - - the affordable housing AND the tight housing supply to create far more overall supply in a vastly taller building in a perfect location.

Development partnerships exist.

These continued "swinging bunts" when the pitcher is offering straight 70 mph pitches down the middle of the plate are wasteful.
 
shmessy said:
.........so THIS is where an enlightened city government would step in and coordinate a PARTNERSHIP on this excellent location/opportunity to hit two birds with one stone - - - the affordable housing AND the tight housing supply to create far more overall supply in a vastly taller building in a perfect location.

Development partnerships exist.

These continued "swinging bunts" when the pitcher is offering straight 70 mph pitches down the middle of the plate are wasteful.
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Who in their right mind would pay market rate to live between a screaming expressway and the ugliest housing project in the history of the world.
 
shmessy said:
.........so THIS is where an enlightened city government would step in and coordinate a PARTNERSHIP on this excellent location/opportunity to hit two birds with one stone - - - the affordable housing AND the tight housing supply to create far more overall supply in a vastly taller building in a perfect location.

Development partnerships exist.

These continued "swinging bunts" when the pitcher is offering straight 70 mph pitches down the middle of the plate are wasteful.
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Could not agree more, especially the costs of the market rate housing across the pike
 
king_vibe said:
Who in their right mind would pay market rate to live between a screaming expressway and the ugliest housing project in the history of the world.
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Judging by the overflowing demand for residential in Boston???? Tens of thousands. Hell, folks are right now poking each other in the eyes and climbing over each other to live next to oil tanks in Everett and Chelsea.
 
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shmessy said:
.........so THIS is where an enlightened city government would step in and coordinate a PARTNERSHIP on this excellent location/opportunity to hit two birds with one stone - - - the affordable housing AND the tight housing supply to create far more overall supply in a vastly taller building in a perfect location.

Development partnerships exist.
Click to expand...

Wholly agree. Which is why it really frustrates me that the Globe celebrates Wu freezing out Boston's business leaders. Much better outcomes can happen when you have the city engaging both private developers and nonprofits like CCBA.
 
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