Harvard Street Board members Ed Gaskin, Jheanell Daye, Paula Josephs, Bonnie Brathwaite and Brian Shelly join CEO Charley Murphy in shoveling the first dirt at the groundbreaking on Thursday. Seth Daniel photo
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A ceremony was held Thursday (Oct. 29) to break ground at the future site of a 49,000 sq. ft., three-story building on Old Road that will house operations of the existing Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center on Blue Hill Avenue.
“This is a huge day for Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, our neighbors, the patients, and our staff – all of whom deserve this new facility,” said health center CEO Charley Murphy. “The board asked me to pursue a new building 12 years ago, and I left as CEO and then came back again as CEO and finally we have reached that day.”
Harvard Street CEO Charley Murphy. Seth Daniel photo
The existing building on Blue Hill Avenue is “lovely,” Murphy said, “but it’s old and leaks and is beyond it’s time…It’s an important milestone today. We see a neighborhood that suffers from longstanding disparities in health access. In Boston, that hurts to have such disparities in a city known for its hospitals and universities.
“This is Harvard Street’s effort to make sure that beacon shows for everyone that walks through these doors,” he noted.
Havard Street began operations in 1968 and landed in its current building across from Franklin Park Zoo Blue Hill Avenue seven years later. They have been offering primary care, women’s and behavioral health services, dental, cancer screening, podiatry, a pharmacy, and other services since then, but have outgrown the space.
After 12 years of starts and stops, the current project gained legs during the pandemic and just after upon Murphy’s return for his second stint at leading the organization. After securing the land on Old Road, they began working with The Community Builders (TCB) of Jamaica Plain to look at a health center as Phase 1 and a Phase 2 combining other health center functions with more than 100 units of affordable housing in new construction on their Blue Hill Avenue properties.
Board Chair Bonnie Brathwaite (right) and Vice Chair Brian Shelly. Seth Daniel photo
Board Chair Bonnie Brathwaite said the new facility will help Harvard Street enhance patient experience and welcome many new patients.
“This has been a long time coming and it is amazing for the employees, but more importantly it is great news for the patients,” she said. “This new center delivers on making sure the folks we care for get the care they deserve.”
Added Councillor Brian Worrell, who lives nearby, “This doubles their clinical space and allows them to serve thousands more patients each year. This is a big day for Blue Hill Avenue, and this is a great example of investing in institutions that have been working for decades and giving them the tools to do more.”
Murphy said there was a time about a year ago when he was convinced the project might not move forward, but through the complex world of tax credit financing, they were able to plug critical gaps using New Market Tax Credits via TCB, MassDevelopment and South Shore Bank – who purchased some $20 million in tax exempt bonds to bring the project to construction.
“It’s a critical part of this job,” said Murphy.
Councillor Brian Worrell, Board member Ed Gaskin, and Michael Curry, president of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. Seth Daniel photo
Also critical in financing was a capital campaign which saw donations from organizations like Boston Medical Center and individuals like the late Richard Slifka, the Global Petroleum founder who grew up in the immediate neighborhood.
There was also a moment of silence for the late, long-time board member, Eileen Kenner, who passed away earlier this year.
Commodore Construction is handling the building of the center and has already begun with pre-construction activities on the site – blocking off part of Old Road as things ramp up.
“The responsibility is now ours to turn the vision here into a functioning health center building and we look forward to getting started.”
The construction process is expected to last between 18 and 24 months.
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
