By
Robert O’Malley
 |
| Evelyn
Friedman. |
The Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation has been developing housing and
commercial space in Roxbury’s Dudley Triangle for 25 years.
“When I came here (in 1990) there were literally acres and acres of vacant
land, most of it owned by the City of Boston,” says Evelyn Friedman, Nuestra’s
executive director. “The housing stock was in horrible condition.”
Over the last 17 years, Nuestra Comunidad has been rebuilding the neighborhood,
block by block. “We tried to acquire important buildings on a street to
help turn the street around,” she says. “In one case we bought two
buildings in
a row on Blue Hill Avenue. We renovated and sold the buildings. After that other
property owners started to renovate their houses or acquired new property.”
“Slowly, either by just developing new buildings on vacant lots or picking
strategic buildings, rehabbing them, and selling them, we were able to create
enough impact so that people started developing their own properties,” says
Ms. Friedman.
Over the years, Nuestra has been the recipient of eight Federal Home Loan Bank
of Boston (the Bank) Affordable Housing Program (AHP) awards, many for initiatives
in Roxbury and Dorchester. In the Dudley Triangle, Nuestra received a $130,000
AHP grant through member Boston Private Bank & Trust Company to help fund
Sargent Street Homes, an initiative to construct 13 single- and two-family homes
for very low- and low-income households.
Dudley Square
In addition to reviving neighborhood streets, Nuestra Comunidad
has been acquiring and renovating aging commercial buildings
in Dudley Square. A major city retail center and transportation
hub, the square went into severe decline starting in the 1960s.
In recent years, Nuestra Comunidad has converted three dilapidated
buildings in the square to create new residential and commercial
space. The organization’s goal was to acquire strategically
located buildings to create momentum for new development — the
same strategy it used to revive residential blocks.
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The AHP-funded Sargent-Prince building in
Roxbury’s
Dudley Square.
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In 1997, the organization completed the renovation of the vacant
Sargent-Prince building to create 29 single-room occupancy units
and ground-floor commercial space in Dudley Square. The initiative
received a $149,000 AHP grant and a $350,000 subsidized advance
through member Wainwright Bank & Trust Company.
In 2002, Nuestra Comunidad received a $313,000 grant through member
Bank of America Rhode Island, N.A. to help fund the renovation
and expansion of Dudley Square’s historic Dartmouth Hotel.
The initiative created 65 units of rental housing — 45 for
very low- and low-income families — and ground-floor commercial
space.
With less city-owned land available for redevelopment in the community,
Ms. Friedman says Nuestra Comunidad will need to adopt new strategies
to continue its revitalization efforts. “I used to feel in
the 1990s that our job was to provide affordable housing, and that
the market-rate housing would take care of itself,” says
Ms. Friedman. “Now
I feel that it is appropriate for us to develop modest- and
market-income properties.
“I’m not saying we should abandon affordable housing and make
modest- and market-rate housing our main business, but I think that in order
for Roxbury to get to the next stage of development, we need more middle-income
development to happen,” she says. “We haven’t really got
the retail activity that we ought to have.
“We will always, always do affordable housing,” she adds, “but
I think we will look at more mixed-income developments in order to bring back
the retail and business sector. You need to have expendable income here in
order for there to be retail activity.”T |
