The Clippership Apartments, a 20-unit, income-restricted complex owned by the Boston Housing Authority, could have had an overhaul 20 years ago when Maverick Gardens was being rehabbed under a federal Hope VI grant. However, residents opted not to be part of the Hope VI project even though the aging public housing development was in desperate need of a rehab.
In 2017 Winn Development Company, along with Lendlease Development, received Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) approval to raze the 20 units of Section 8 housing and replace them with 52 units of housing.
The project also received Zoning Board approval last year and earlier this month was granted its building permits and construction will commence this spring.
Winn and Lendlease were designated by the BHA as the developer of the Clippership Apartments on August 3, after a competitive solicitation process.
“The Developer proposes to transform this aging housing complex, which has no financial resources of its own, into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-income, transit-oriented, residential development,” wrote Winn President Jamie Fay in the letter filed with the BPDA. “Leveraging the opportunity of the ongoing mixed-use development at Clippership Wharf, Lendlease is partnering with Winn to revitalize the aging housing complex and provide affordable units to meet and further the on-site Inclusionary Development Policy – both by replacing the dilapidated existing 20 rental units and by creating thirty new affordable and middle-income condominium units.”
The letter to the BPDA added that the current complex serves as a residence for 20 families, all of whom will be promised the right to move into the new units.
“The Developer has spent several months engaging existing residents and seeking input on the proposed project with the support and assistance of the BHA,” wrote Fay. “The original site design and program have been changed to be more responsive to the neighborhood and existing residents’ concerns, and we will continue to listen to neighborhood concerns throughout the review process. The Developer is committed to engaging the community and strongly believes that we can improve our proposal by listening to and responding to those who know the community best.”
Winn and Lendlease plan to demolish the four two-story townhouses and construct two new three-story, wood-framed buildings. One building will contain approximately 22 affordable rental apartment residences, and the other will contain 30 mixed-income condominium residences. Apartments will include three-and four-bedrooms, and condominiums will include studio, one-, two- and three bedrooms. Fourteen of those condominiums will be designated affordable.
In the building that will contain the 20 low-income rental units there will be a community room and ground-floor retail space. There will also be 19 surface parking spaces and 50 bicycle storage spaces located on site for residents
Winn and Lendlease are currently permitted to build a waterfront development project at Clippership Wharf directly behind the Clippership Apartments. That $225 million project will include 492 studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units, a small cafe and restaurant, a fitness center, a lounge and club facility, a canoe/kayak rental facility, a water taxi dock, and a possible mooring field for sailing.