By Bill Forry

The corner of Quincy Street and Columbia Road has been an eyesore for so long that even Ed Grimes, the neighborhood's eyes and ears for more than 50 years, has to pause and reflect.

"Oh, it's been that way at least since the 1970s," says the man who runs the bustling health center across the street. "Used to be all three-deckers on Quincy Street and an apartment building on Columbia. It decayed away gradually. They all didn't come down at same time," Grimes says.

But come down they did, until at some point by the moribund late-70s, we were left with the ugly quilt of empty lots that now serves as the entryway to Uphams Corner from the west. On the weekends, it's the lonely home to a take-out BBQ food truck run by Maurice "Big Mo" Hill, who for years has leased space from the city, which owns some of the abandoned lots. Hill's tasty van aside, the intersection is a vapor trail of what this community used to be like.

On Tuesday, news came down that a two-year-long effort to restore housing to the prominent intersection has finally hit pay-dirt. The Mass Housing Finance Agency's board of directors signed off on a $7 million loan commitment that will give birth to Columbia West Apartments, a 46-unit rental complex that will anchor the now-distressed block. The developer will also build six duplex homes at the rear of the block along Drayton Street, where 12 new homeowners will take root.

The project is honchoed by Peter Roth, president of New Atlantic Development Corporation. The Boston-based developer got acquainted with Uphams Corner in the late-90s, when his company restored the Uphams Corner Market, across from the North Cemetery. Roth is just the kind of real estate developer that Uphams Corner has always needed. Even after his own project was wrapped up, he's stayed active as a member of the Uphams Corner Main Street board. Roth is one of those wise businessman who knows the value of being a good neighbor.

That reputation paid off handsomely for Roth with Quincy-Columbia, a cobweb of more than a half-dozen city- and privately-owned vacant lots. Cobbling the parcels together was a feat in itself. Convincing the neighbors on the west side of Uphams Corner that he would be a good neighbor was perhaps his more daunting challenge.

"There was a lot of negotiation and discussion. We convinced them that we had a good plan that would not fall flat," says Roth. "It's fair to say they were disposed to be receptive to our thinking because they were pleased with the results of the Uphams Market."

Charlotte Golar Richie, the former Dorchester state rep who heads up the city's Department of Neighborhood Development and helped steer the community process that led to Columbia West, credits Roth with being both persistent and patient.

"It took creativity and perseverance on the part of the developer to acquire the private lots and to work with neighborhood. Peter Roth was able to put together this corner into a total package and then was able to go out an acquire the necessary funding from several different sources," says Richie. "I think this development will improve an important corner and bring back quality, well designed housing. It will look lovely."

Just as important, more than half of the new apartments will be locked in as affordable for households that earn less than 50 percent of the median income. Several of the units will be set aside to serve low-income, mentally retarded adults, who are finding it more difficult to find housing these days, thanks to the governor's recent budget cuts.

As in any project this big, there are those who've found a downside to the redevelopment. Big Mo, the rib king whose been doing business from his truck for the last 10 years or so, will have to find a new home when the deal is finalized later this year. Recently, a Boston Herald columnist criticized Mayor Menino for pushing Big Mo out the door. As usual, the Herald got it backwards.

Big Mo's a nice guy, and he makes a mean pile of ribs, but he's had chances to relocate. Twice in the last decade he's opted out of brick-and-mortar partnerships elsewhere in Dorchester, including a short-lived venture on Bowdoin Street that bore his name. But Mo preferred his roadside stand, despite the apparent success of another popular BBQ joint, Chef Lee's, a few blocks down Columbia.

Hopefully, Big Mo will find a new corner to call home. Maybe he can work something out with the state and move his truck to Carson Beach as an alternative to the high-priced slop being served to hungry beachgoers there.

Whatever the case, make no mistake: By next year Quincy-Columbia will once again be home to scores of Dorchester families who need a decent place to live.

And anyone who doesn't see the success story there is reading the wrong newspaper.

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The city's Animal Control unit is warning people who live in and around Uphams Corner this week that they should watch out for what appears to be a duo of cat-killing hounds prowling the streets in tandem. According to one Payson Ave. resident, her sleeping cat was set upon by a pair of reddish-colored mutts on Monday morning. The dogs leaped a four-foot fence to catch their prey and, according to the woman, dispatched the feline in a gruesome manner.

The cat's owner said she worries that the attacks could get even worse.

"If they can jump a four-foot fence, I'm concerned that they might go after a little kid," she said. "We have seen them before. We saw them a month-and-a-half ago and they looked like they were hunting. We have many feral cats in this neighborhood and we've seen many torn up in the vicinity."

Jim Cahill, director of the city's Animal Control unit, says he's had reports of other such dog-eat-cat attacks this summer in and around Uphams Corner.

"It's kind of a puzzling thing," says Cahill, who visited the scene of earlier attacks. "There were two other locations where the fence was very high."

Cahill says that, for now, cat owners should be careful to keep their cats inside, especially in the evening hours. Of course, the wanted animals &emdash; described as being a reddish-brown chow mix of stocky build &emdash; should be avoided and called in if spotted. Reports can be phoned into the Animal Control office during the day to 617-635-5348 or to the mayor's 24 hour hotline: 617-635-4500.

•••

A spokesperson for Senator Jack Hart called last week to dispute information that appeared in this column space regarding the district four city council election. In the column, I indicated that Sen. Hart is backing Ego Ezedi in his challenge of 20-year incumbent Charles Yancey. In fact, according to Hart's aide Rosemary Powers, the Senator is remaining neutral. Another Hart aide, Nathan Pham, who was present for Ezedi's campaign kick-off event in July, was not there representing Hart, according to Powers. Also, an Ezedi press advisory listing Hart as one of the elected officials expected to join Ezedi in his kick-off, was incorrect, Powers says.

Bill Forry can be reached at bforry@dotnews.com