Jackson Square Revamp Advances in Boston

BOSTON-Urban Edge broke ground Tuesday on the second phase of the $250-million Jackson Square redevelopment at a ceremony that also marked the grand opening of The Community Builders Inc.'s 225 Centre, the first phase of the project. When the 14-building, transit-oriented development is completed, it will reconnect Boston's Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods, which had been disrupted by an unsuccessful highway expansion program in the 1970s.

For its part, 225 Centre features 103 apartments, 35 of which are affordable, as well as more than 16,000 square feet of commercial space and an underground parking garage with 86 spaces. Bart Mitchell, TCB's president and CEO, comments that “225 Centre and the other buildings in the Jackson Square master plan provide mixed-income apartments and commercial space that will be instrumental to spur economic development and help reconnect the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury neighborhoods.” The property is a joint venture between TCB and Mitchell Properties.

After the failed highway expansion program left much of the neighborhood vacant or utilized, several community groups, including the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., Urban Edge and the Hyde Park Task Force came together in 1995 to map out the area's redevelopment. Known today as the Jackson Square Redevelopment Initiative, the plan was certified LEED Silver by the US Green Building Council, the first plan in the Northeast to receive this certification under the LEED for Neighborhood Development program.

Jackson Commons, the second phase of the redevelopment, will include the adaptive reuse and gut renovation of the existing 100-year-old, three-story Webb Building, along with a newly-constructed four-story addition. Once complete, Jackson Commons will consist of 37 mixed-income rental apartments and some 13,000 square feet on the ground floor that will function as Urban Edge offices and a Neighborhood Learning Center. In addition, about 2,000 square feet of space on the ground floor will be rentable to retailers or other nonprofit organizations.