13-03-2025
Huge South Boston public housing complex gets $70 million to start redevelopment
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'For almost nine decades, Mary Ellen McCormack has been a cornerstone of Boston's commitment to affordable housing,' Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement. 'Today, we take a major step forward in ensuring that this historic community remains a vibrant, inclusive home for generations to come.'
Tenants have been involved in planning the entire project, according to Carol Sullivan, executive director of the Mary Ellen McCormack Task Force, a resident advocacy group. 'I am very proud of this partnership and cannot wait to see the smiles on the residents' faces when they move into their new, affordable homes,' Sullivan said in a statement.
Artists renderings of the first building in the planned redevelopment of South Boston's Mary Ellen McCormack public housing complex.
The Architectural Team
WinnCompanies CEO Gilbert Winn said the redevelopment project would be a model for similar projects across the country. 'This first building jumpstarts an ambitious and inspired undertaking many years in the making that will ultimately give rise to a new mixed-income and mixed-use neighborhood,' Winn said in a statement.
The project's financing, $62 million for the building and $8 million for infrastructure, came from a variety of sources including a construction loan from the Bank of America, federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit and Energy Tax Credit equity from Bank of America, a tax-exempt bridge loan and tax-exempt first mortgage loan from MassHousing, and a subordinate loan from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund maintained by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities.
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The McCormack project, built during the Great
Depression, currently includes 1,016 deeply subsidized apartments across 35 buildings. All current residents will have the right to occupy new apartments as the project proceeds.
Aaron Pressman can be reached at
