27-29 Hancock Street Update
*Amended March 12th
I am writing today with an update regarding the affordable housing project at 27-29 Hancock Street in Beacon Hill. The BPDA has announced a public meeting for the project on March 26th, 2025 at 6 - 7:30pm. This will be an opportunity for the community to give input on Fenway CDC’s proposed affordable housing development and help ensure a cohesive finished product on Beacon Hill through this next step in the public process. To register for this meeting, please visit the City of Boston Planning Department website.
For those of you that are not familiar with the project, after a lengthy process involving extensive community input and collaboration with city and state officials, Fenway Community Development Corporation (Fenway CDC) has been selected to redevelop the two adjacent properties at 27-29 Hancock Street into affordable homeownership units. As you may be aware, Women’s Lunch Place had proposed an SRO at 27-29 Hancock Street about which there were significant concerns. I worked with JDMD, the Wu Administration, Councilor Durkan, Beacon Hill Civic Association (especially Josh Leffler), and Homes on Hancock (especially John Gulliver and Harold Brink) on an alternative plan to release a request for proposal that requested an affordable housing proposal that matched what the neighborhood sought. Councilor Durkan secured $1 million in ARPA money for the project, which greatly helped.
Such a request for proposal (RFP) was issued on October 18th, 2024 by the property owner, JDMD. The RFP had a submission deadline of November 22nd, 2024 and was open to established affordable housing developers who could best meet the needs of the project site in Beacon Hill. JDMD formally designated Fenway CDC as their select developer pursuant to their RFP on December 24th, 2024. Per the agreement, with the developer, Fenway CDC will redevelop the two properties into 15 -17 affordable units. The properties will consist of studios, one and two bedroom units available for households earning 80% to 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for new homeowners. None of the units will be SRO’s (Single Room Occupancy units).
JDMD purchased 27-29 Hancock Street in 2018 with the intention to donate the building to another developer for the creation of off-site affordable housing units to satisfy its Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) with the city for their previously developed luxury housing units on Temple Street.
I am extremely proud of this outcome and the community-centered process that would not have been achieved without the advocacy of Beacon Hill Civic Association (BHCA) and Homes on Hancock St. The collaboration with JDMD and the funding resources secured by Mayor Wu’s Administration provided an exciting opportunity to make affordable housing in Beacon Hill.
Fenway CDC is a community organization with multiple affordable and permanent supportive using projects in the Fenway Neighborhood that I have worked closely with in my role as State Representative. They have a wonderful reputation in Boston and put together a great team of architects who put together a thoughtful and thorough bid for the project. Their designation as the developer on this project is an important step to realizing affordable housing on Beacon Hill and I look forward to working with stakeholders to achieve that end goal.
On March 12, 2025, the BPDA announced a public meeting for the project on March 26th, 2025 from 6 - 7:30pm. Please visit this link to register for this meeting. If you have any comments, questions or concerns regarding the proposed affordable housing development at 27-29 Hancock Street, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with me at Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov.