BOSTON—While Trinity Financial awaits word on its ambitious high-rise proposal at the Winthrop Square Garage site here from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the company tells Globest.com that it is moving forward on a host of residential and mixed-use developments in Boston and New York City.

Trinity Financial is one of six bidders vying to redevelop the Winthrop Square site. On Monday evening the BRA staged an Open House where the bidders gave presentations on their respective proposals. The BRA is expected to select a designated developer by the end of the summer. Trinity has proposed a 60-story, 941,000-square-foot building that will feature 296 condominium units, 349 rentals, a 231-key hotel, ground floor retail and restaurants, as well as an indoor/outdoor public park on the 18^th floor and a public observation deck, restaurant and lounge on the 52^nd floor of the building.

Kenan Bigby, managing director of Trinity Financial, stresses that 40% of the units (258) will be affordable to households with incomes of up to 120% of the area median income. According to Trinity's proposal filed with the BRA, the project would create more than 2,000 construction jobs.

Bigby, who refused to divulge the possible development cost for the project, says that while the firm is anxiously awaiting the BRA decision on the Winthrop Square competition, Trinity is moving forward with three development projects in the Boston region and another three in New York City in the near term.

“We're keeping busy and we got some exciting projects going that we are very proud of,” Bigby says.

In Boston, the company is moving forward on its Boston East, Ashmont TOD II and Northampton Square developments, along with the Randolph Houses in Harlem, 3160 Park Ave. and 425 Grand Concourse projects in the Bronx.

Bigby says that financing closed on the Boston East development earlier this year and the firm, which also has offices in New York City, broke ground on the project at 112 Water St. last month. The northern portion of the East Boston waterfront property will be designated for housing. The new Boston East will be a six-story building featuring 200 units of rental housing, 26 of which will be earmarked as affordable housing, including six artist live/work/sell units on the ground floor. Those units will be able to be open to the public for studios and will be located near the building's gallery space, which will be a venue for art exhibitions and community events. An important part of the project will be improvements to the Harborwalk that runs along the water edge of the property, he notes. The Boston East project received a $3-million MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant for the Harborwalk improvement project.

He says that the Boston East development will be one of the first projects along the East Boston waterfront to open up the waterfront for public use. JP Morgan is the construction lender on the project. The projected total cost of development for Boston East is $67 million.

A groundbreaking ceremony is expected next month on Trinity's Ashmont TOD II mixed-use project on Ashmont Street in Dorchester. The $45-million project, located across from Trinity's The Carruth building, will create 83 rental units, including 53 affordable apartments, and 32 condo units in a six-story building. Bigby expects the development to be completed in the third quarter of 2017. In February, MassDevelopment issued a $15,3-million tax-exempt bond in connection with the project. The U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development approved federal low-income housing tax credits that will provide approximately $11.3 million in equity for the project. Boston Private Bank purchased the bond.

Bigby says that at the groundbreaking ceremony, the firm will officially reveal the name change of the project (now called Ashmont TOD II) and will also showcase the development's sales center.

Completion of the renovation and upgrade of two buildings at Northampton Square in the South End is expected this summer. Bigby reports that the $55.6-million renovation of the 29-story building at 35 Northampton Street and the $35-million renovation of the 12-story building at 860 Harrison Ave. are nearing completion. The company expects to begin construction on the third component of the Northampton Square development—a new 24-story, 203-unit tower at the corner of Northampton Street and Albany Street—sometime in 2017. The estimated total development cost for the 493,000-square-foot building is $230 million.

In New York City, Trinity Financial has completed the first phase of the redevelopment of the A. Philip Randolph Houses public housing project in Harlem. The two-phased project HUD mixed-finance and Low Income Housing Tax Credit initiative at the Randolph Houses involves the historic rehabilitation of the existing structures into two sets of interconnected and fully handicapped accessible buildings. The building facades will be restored and the interior of the buildings will be completely demolished and rehabilitated. Phase one of the project—the redevelopment of the 22 old law tenement buildings on the South Side of the property is completed and is now being leased. The project included a $95-million gut-rehabilitation of the units. The new project contains 168 units in two buildings each with central circulation and elevator access.

Bigby says that Trinity is closing on the financing and is expected to begin construction this month on the second phase of the development—a gut rehab of the South Side of the property totaling $51 million. The new project when completed will include approximately 134 rehabilitated units in what will be one building with central circulation and elevator access.

In the Bronx, Trinity is currently under construction with its $66.5-million 3160 Park Ave. project that when completed in September of this year will feature 152 rental units. In planning is its 425 Grand Concourse development, a $119-million development in the Mott Haven section. The de Blasio administration selected Trinity Financial and MBD Community Housing for the development that will feature 241 below-market-rate, affordable housing units for tenants earning between 60% to 100% of area median income. In addition to the residential component, the 24-story building will hold a charter school, a medical facility, a supermarket and spaces for cultural programs and social services, as well as a renovated and reopened public playground, Trinity noted.

Construction on the building that will be designed to consume only 30% of the energy of a traditional housing development, is expected to begin at the end of 2017. The complex will be built on city-owned land that once held a public school, and will be financed through the mayor's budget for his 10-year affordable housing plan.

“We're keeping busy and we got some exciting projects going that we are very proud of,” Bigby says.

Bigby says that at the groundbreaking ceremony, the firm will officially reveal the name change of the project (now called Ashmont TOD II) and will also showcase the development's sales center.

Instant Insights /

Trinity Financial Pressing Forward on Boston, NYC Projects

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