Officials Break Ground, Celebrate Completion of Last Projects in the Box District

Gov. Deval Patrick led the charge Wednesday morning in the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Flats@22 housing project that is underway on Gerrish Avenue. The fete also marked the completion of the Flats@44, which is currently 80 percent leased. Together, they offer 96 new rental housing units.

Gov. Deval Patrick led the charge Wednesday morning in the groundbreaking ceremonies
for the Flats@22 housing project that is underway on Gerrish Avenue. The fete also marked
the completion of the Flats@44, which is currently 80 percent leased. Together, they offer
96 new rental housing units.

City leaders, state leaders and officials from The Neighborhood Developers and Mitchell Properties celebrated one milestone on Wednesday morning with the completion of the Flats@44 and, at the same time, broke ground on another project that is just about to begin.

Gov. Deval Patrick was the special guest attending the groundbreaking, which officially got the Flats@22 off the ground. The project is part of the overall Box District and contains several units just completed at 44 Gerrish Ave. and many more units on the way at 22 Gerrish Ave.

Partnering with TND once again was Bart Mitchell of Mitchell Properties.

“I want to make note of this project using the HDIP program (Housing Development Incentive Plan),” said Gov. Patrick. “The Flats@44 is the first EDIP project to be done. We congratulate you on that…We can chart our own future. We don’t have to wait for it to come to us. We can go out and get it. An example of that is a project like this. The basic blocking and tackling of what we do to build housing opportunities, create transportation solutions and provide good schools. We can bring it together.”

Patrick also acknowledged the beginnings of construction on the right-of-way behind the Box District project that will soon become the Silver Line Bus Rapid Transit line, something he announced in Chelsea last fall.

Council President Matt Frank said it is hard to believe what has happened in the Box District over the last seven years.

“Years ago I was on the Planning Board and we were in subcommittee talking about this neighborhood,” he said. “It’s great to see those fuzzy plans we had become real buildings here today.”

That was echoed by State Sen. Sal DiDomenico.

“Chelsea has had a resurgence,” he said. “My mom grew up in this neighborhood. It’s amazing we have a neighborhood like this on a street people didn’t even want to drive through and now they are waiting in line to live here. That’s incredible.”

The Flats@44 offers 41 market rate and five affordable rental housing units for residents and is currently 80 percent leased. It included the rehabilitation of the old industrial Standard Box building along with construction of a new modular building.

The Flats@22 will be another mixed-income project using affordable housing resources. There will be 50 units of rental housing in the building, with 21 units being affordable, or subsidized, housing.

The two projects will likely be the last additions of housing in the Box District, which has had seven major housing projects since 2007 pumped into the formerly derelict stretch of industrial buildings.

The HDIP program provided a state income tax credit of up to 10 percent. The Flats@44 project will receive approximately $830,000 in state income tax credits and will also receive a local Chelsea real estate tax break.

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