US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro and Mayor Martin Walsh took a chat break at Tuesday’s dedication of the Quincy Heights development. Mayor’s Office photo

Mayor Martin Walsh and Julia Castro, the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, joined Tuesday in cutting the ribbon on Quincy Heights, a 129-unit development in the Quincy Street Corridor between Columbia Road and Blue Hill Avenue.

Formerly known as Woodledge/Morrant Bay, the real estate was renovated thanks to $20.5 million from HUD’s Choice Neighborhood Grant that allowed for the rehabilitation of nine buildings, the demolition of two others, and the construction of 49 additional units. All of the units will carry Section 8 subsidies.

“What we have learned is that it is possible to work across the silos so that you’re not just focused on housing, you’re also focused on entrepreneurialism and education,” Castro told reporters after the press conference and ribbon cutting. “It’s a blueprint that a lot of cities can benefit from and now we can take this and help show other communities how they can do what Boston has done.”

The first-of-its-kind grant enabled an additional $83.2 million in public and private funding to help revitalize the Quincy Corridor, the overall development that features commercial, residential, and public facilities. Boston was one of the five first cities awarded to receive a Choice Neighborhood grant in 2011, and Quincy Heights is the first completed development among the five.

“So much of what we celebrate in this great nation started here in Boston,” Castro said, “another first to Boston’s long and storied list: the choice neighborhoods.”

Quincy Heights is but one piece of the Quincy Corridor puzzle: the housing joins the Bornstein and Pearl Food Production Small Business center, enhanced public Wi-Fi in the Grove Hall area, new playground and open space at the Haynes Early Learning Center, a new playground and school yard at the Martin Luther King K-8 School, and assistance for local businesses.

“These redevelopments are proof that great outcomes are possible when stakeholders come together to work towards shared goals for the common good,” Walsh said, crediting the Obama administration, the local congressional delegation, and community partners.

The Boston Housing Authority and Department of Neighborhood Development have submitted a second Choice Neighborhoods request for $30 million to redevelop the Whittier public housing development in Roxbury and its surrounding neighborhood.