The long-delayed second phase of the Dot Block development – an all-affordable 84-unit apartment building that will rise five stories above Hancock Street– has received key state subsidies that should clear a path for construction to start this year.
Gov. Maura Healey announced the tax credits and subsidy awards for the Hancock Building last month. The project received $5 million in subsidies from the city of Boston one year ago, and developers Samuels & Associates in partnership with Wintergold have committed $4 million, according to the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH).
“They have a contractor they expect to work with and will be able to move funds from the awards stage to the utilization stage by mid-May,” said Adam Goldstein, project manager for MOH. “I’d expect late summer —before September— this project would start construction.”
Said Boston Housing Chief Sheila Dillon, “We’re very excited about getting 84 income-restricted units over there. Early on there was a lot of concern about Dot Block gentrifying the area…We want to invest and build housing units, but we also don’t want to encourage displacement and gentrification.”
The first phase of Dot Block opened in 2023 and delivered 243 units of mostly market-rate apartments with 33 affordable units in the building. Phase II was supposed to include 2 market-rate buildings, a 98-unit building, and a 145-unit building, with affordable housing units embedded. However, a change in the plan took place last year when the city and the developers shifted gears to convert the building to an 84-unit all-affordable building nameds the Hancock Building.
The DotBlock phase one under construction in 2022. The next phase will be located in the foreground along Hancock Street/ Reporter file photo
That allowed the developer to include the 22 units of affordable housing required for the forthcoming 145-unit building in Phase III, and then add 62 “new” affordable units that weren’t planned as part of the original development.
A spokesperson for the development team called it “an important step that allows us to advance the next phase of DOT Block. We remain focused on identifying a path to deliver the remainder of the DOT Block project as a mixed-income community and expect to share further updates on timing later mid-year as we continue working with lenders and investors to close the remaining financing,” said the spokesperson.
The revised Hancock Building has larger family units, as opposed to the smaller studio units that were supposed to be part of the building – hence the reduction in units from 98 to 84. It was a deal the city rarely makes, but Goldstein said the “positives” were much stronger than any potential problems.
He said that the “timing” to get the project going this year was favorable, as well as getting the building to “pencil out” financially for the owner.
The reason such a deal is somewhat rare is that the city is hesitant to isolate and segregate affordable components in a mixed-income development. Nevertheless, Dillon cited the “campus” aspect of Dot Block, and said getting more affordable units and a project into construction was well worth it.
“It’s rare that a market rate developer is volunteering to meet their affordable housing obligation before they figured out how to go forward with the market rate project,” she said. “It’s the kind of risk the city felt very justified in taking. It is already a mixed-income community…The affordable housing building is adjacent to the market rate sites and I feel comfortable the units aren’t segregated.”
Dillon said that MOH is working closely with many developers across the city trying to get projects into construction if it makes sense for everyone. This, she said, is one example of that.
“The city really is working with developers in an impactful way to see if we can get these developments to start; that is important to us,” she said. “We just want to make sure it’s serving our population.”
All units in the Hancock Building will be affordable to households earning less than 60 percent AMI, including 17 homes for households earning less than 30 percent AMI, with 9 reserved for households at risk of homelessness.
