Parcel 25
Where is Parcel 25?
Parcel 25 is located at the intersection of Columbus Avenue, Tremont Street and Gurney Street, across from the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Mission Hill NHS purchased the 77,000 sq ft parcel from the MBTA in 2012 following a multi-year community planning process with hundreds of neighborhood shareholders. The community vision resulting from the process, which involved a desire for affordable senior housing, affordable family housing, jobs, and economic opportunity, as well as neighborhood serving retail, ultimately became the zoning for the site. Two vacant lots owned by the City of Boston and lots owned by Wentworth Institute of Technology also became a part of our community planning initiative.
The Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative
MHNHS implemented the Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative to create a redevelopment vision for this major 2-acre vacant parcel at Roxbury Crossing. This redevelopment vision became the catalyst to solidify Roxbury Crossing as a viable neighborhood center and entrance to the Mission Hill community. The Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiative was modeled after the extremely successful planning process implemented by MHNHS to create the development vision for One Brigham Circle. The Parcel 25 process used the same tools and methods of organizing, resident participation and community planning.
The Community Planning Process
MHNHS began the Parcel 25 Community Planning and Development Initiatve in 2004 with the goal of generating the community’s vision for a viable development plan for this gateway parcel. MHNHS staff and Board members reached out first to residents and busineses in the Roxbury Crossing area to see if there was interest in focusing on this important but neglected site. Hearing a strong desire to improve and develop this parcel, MHNHS began conducting Small Group Brainstorming Meetings through June of 2005. These meetings involved abutters, stakeholders, youth and residents of the various districts of Mission Hill. Over 140 Mission Hill neighbors attended 14 brainstorming sessions identifying potential goals, uses, and constraints on development. The ideas generated in the Small Group Brainstorming Meetings are in the bullets in the section below.
The second stage of the community planning process began in fall of 2005. Volunteers recruited at abutter and district meetings began serving on Citizen Task Forces and gathering information on transit oriented development, housing, and the 3Es — easements, egress, and existing site conditions. Community Workshops began in February 2006 with over 120 residents and nearby businesses participating. MHNHS hired a design firm, financial consultant and planning facilitator to work with the community at 4 to 5 day-long workshops to develop consensus for the community’s vision, refine schematic drawings, and discuss and analyse the feasibility of community preferred options.
The Community’s Vision for Parcel 25
In June 2006 community members at Community Workshop 4 adopted the Development Vision for Parcel 25.
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MHNHS's implementation of the development program, based on the community vision, has reestablished Roxbury Crossing as a lively retail area with viable businesses, establishing a positive Gateway to Mission Hill. It has had a positive economic impact for Mission Hill including job training, stable and accessible housing, employment opportunities, and stabilizing retail. It is community controlled and neighborhood-serving.
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The vision originally included 8 -12 new neighborhood-serving retail stores and restaurants that would be smaller in size, transit oriented, and subsidized by the development to ensure viability in this emerging market area. However, this was ultimately pared down due to changing market conditions and the strong need for affordable family and senior housing.
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The program resulted in the re-creation of housing along Gurney Street and above retail along Tremont Street with desired affordable rentable opportunities as well as rental housing for low-income seniors.
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The development is pedestrian-friendly improving the traffic flow along Tremont and providing for significant streetscape improvements including trees, improved sidewalks, significant and symbolic crosswalks, and pedestrian pathways through the project connecting the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop to housing at the site and residential areas of Mission Main and Alice Taylor. It is transit-oriented providing safe access to the bus, the train and encouraging the use of bikes and Zipcar.
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Design and uses have allowed Parcel 25 to be a place that connects the community. It is a place where families and seniors live, a place for people to live and work, a place that is multi-cultural and multi-aged, serving senior citizens and youth, reflecting and open to the entire Mission Hill community. One Gurney St, the signature community building on Tremont Street, now includes nonprofit office and training space and multi-function rooms for many community activities from dance rehearsals to family baby showers, in addition to 40 affordable rental units for families.
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The sustainable design, including heat deflecting roofs and energy efficient equipment and technologies, provide significant cost benefits to renters as well as business owners and offices.
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The design is respectful. The five-story buildings along Tremont, Gurney and Station St fit in contextually with the surrounding area. The mix of uses have replaced the illegal and unattractive uses that took place in the area with positive uses that provide people and activity, security and lighting.
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It was initially thought that the economic engine of the project would be the office component and that this component, slated to be a 10-story structure, would provide height to the overall development. However, the Maria Sanchez House, 40 units for Extremely Low Income (ELI) seniors was the first new development completed in 2015. This was followed by One Gurney St, a mixed-use development which provided 40 units for Low/ELI families and also incorporated an office component (27,000 GSF), a retail component with 4 neighborhood-serving retail spaces (4,000 GSF), and 160+ jobs.
Parcel 25 Projected Full Buildout Site Plan
Parcel 25 Phase 2
©️Damianos Photography
©️Damianos Photography
In December of 2017, MHNHS completed and occupied the Parcel 25 Phase 1A project that includes a mix of 40 affordable apartments for families, non-profit office space for Metro Housing Boston for its 160 employees and many clients, and ground floor retail spaces, including the new Eastern Bank Branch, the Boston Cyclists Union, Mission Hill Travel Group, and Merengue Express. Although Parcel 25 Phase 2 closed during COVID-19 and MHNHS faced environmental challenges, all 46 LIHTC rental homes for families were occupied in December of 2023. This new building along Gurney and Station Streets is consistent with the community's vision.
With the passage of time, and the changing economic climate, a large office component became less desirable and less necessary to the vision's overall success. In late 2023, MHNHS went back to the community to gain consensus and support for a Notice of Project Change (NPC) to move away from the office use in favor of more urgently needed rental housing, affordable at a range of incomes (from Extremely Low Income to Workforce).
Phase 3, the last phase of the development at Parcel 25, will now be a 94-unit affordable family housing development. Phase 3 was approved by both the City of Boston and State of Massachusetts in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The smaller, less dense development (now a 6-story structure) will also allow for better access by the MBTA to their existing infrastructure on the site. The development will include 15 1-bedrooms, 55 2-bedrooms, and 24 3-bedroom apartments, with many of them fully accessible for persons with disabilities, 33 parking spaces in a surface level garage, and a 2,500 sq ft community room.