The Boston Planning & Development Agency’s (BPDA) Board of Directors has approved the Suffolk Downs Redevelopment Project, a five-phase development project that will create thousands of jobs, affordable and market-rate housing units, and dramatically improve transportation infrastructure and climate resiliency in East Boston. Over the past three years, the BPDA has worked closely with neighboring community members, local stakeholders and elected officials to help shape the project to better serve East Boston’s existing and future residents.
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Housing for a variety of income levels
The project, which spans both Boston and the City of Revere, will create approximately 7,000 residential units, representing 7.31 million square feet, across the Boston portion of the site. The residential units include more than 900 on-site income-restricted units, and an additional US $5m housing stabilization fund to support off-site income-restricted housing, bringing the total commitment of affordable housing to 20% of the overall units.
At least 10% of the total residential units will be set-aside for senior housing. In addition, the commercial portion of the project will contribute US $28m in linkage funding to the Neighborhood Housing Trust to support the creation of affordable housing. The affordable housing that will be created through the project represents the largest contribution of affordable housing created through one single private development project in City of Boston history.
Imagine Boston 2030, the City of Boston’s first master plan in fifty years, identified Suffolk Downs as a place for growth because the unique opportunity the vacant property presents to create a new transit-oriented, mixed-income area that addresses Boston’s need for new housing stock to meet the needs of a growing population.
