Mosquera Family Continues to Make Investmests in Local Business Community

The Mosquera family, consisting of two parents, five daughters and one son, immigrated from Medellin, Colombia, over 25 years ago with the dream of a building a better future in America.

In 1999 the hardworking family decided to purchase a commercial building at 9-12 Central Square and ran a series of storefronts over the years.

About five years ago, the Mosquera Family decided to make the first in a series of improvements to their building by adding two floors of residential space over their commercial properties.

Last year, the Mosquera family wanted to make even more improvements on their investment in the community. The family envisioned a restoration of the building’s facade, which contained ornamental stone work and brick.

The Mosquera’s contacted the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development through East Boston Main Streets to discuss the opportunity​ to work with the Restore and Design staff​ to renovate the commercial facade, which was not done when the upper stories were renovated.

The family received architectural and graphic design assistance through the City’s ‘Restore’ program to assist with the vision of transforming the first-floor ​commercial facade of the building where a Mosquera daughter owns Cache Beauty Center in one of the two commercial storefronts of the building.

Steven Rumpler, Business and Design Services Manager, Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, said the project quickly moved from concepts, to construction drawings, logo and signage design, to construction and completion.

After removing the old sign band from the building​ during the demolition phase, the original cast stone pediment was revealed and as part of the project, completely restored.

The total development costs of the construction project was $150,000. Through the Restore program the project received $55,000 from the City towards the construction phase of the project. The Mosquera family then invested over $95,000 of their own equity into the project, provided by East Boston Savings Bank.

Last Wednesday Eastie’s elected officials, Main Streets and the Chamber of Commerce joined the City’s Chief of Economic Development John Barros and the Mosquera family to cut the ribbon on the family’s recent facade improvement in Central Square.

“I’m really excited about this project,” said Barros. “When my parents came to this country this was the dream–to not only be able to contribute to the family but to the country, to the city and the community. It doesn’t get better than this. Here is a family that is improving their neighborhood with this project but also providing services to the community, housing, jobs.”

Barros said the facade restoration project was an excellent example of when private business, government and nonprofits all come together and work together to improve the neighborhood and small business.

“Small businesses like this one in East Boston are the lifeline of Boston’s economic growth and stability,” said Barros. “They hire local people, make sure local contractors have contracts and jobs, small businesses really keep it going. This is what makes Boston special. We are here today because what the Mosquera family has done and invested in matters and I wanted to be here to say it in a really loud way.”

Rep. Adrian Madaro said the facade program was a special day for Eastie and the growth of Central Square.

“This is an amazing historic renovation,” said Madaro. “Who would have ever thought beneath the paint and old signage was all this beautiful architectural detail. I just wanted to be here today to thank the Mosquera family for investing in our community and celebrating our history. Small businesses are the backbone of our community and I just want to say thank you to the family for deciding to stay, renovate and be part of the future of our community.”

Speaking on behalf of the family, Berenice Mosquera thanked Derek Rubinoff Architects,  Lindsay Hill Design​, local Eastie contractor Sal Latina, from Wess Co. who was the General Contractor for all their work.

“There was a lot of teamwork to get this project done,” she said. “We’ve been involved in the community for years and now with this project complete the next generation of our family–our children, our nieces and nephews–will become part of the community for years to come.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *