the Metropolitan
The Metropolitan: A model for mixed income development
boston, ma - Completed 2005
overview The Metropolitan leveraged the experience of Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) in developing Oak Terrace to take on new challenges: the 5% owner-occupancy rate in Chinatown and the increasingly expensive cost of housing in Boston’s downtown core. The result is a mixed use 23 story high-rise containing 251 rental and homeownership units, 115 (or 46%) of which are affordable to low and moderate income families. ACDC successfully incorporated an extraordinary number of affordable units by capturing and capitalizing on the intrinsic value of the site’s desirable location
As testament to the demand for affordable units and the desirability of units within The Metropolitan, over 3000 applicants entered the lottery for the affordable units in late 2003. All the affordable rental units have been occupied since March, 2004.
in downtown Boston, access to a plethora of public transportation options, and existing diversity and density that allowed the market-rate condominiums to subsidize the affordable housing component. ACDC partnered with for-profit developer Edward A. Fish Associates (EAFA) to complete development of The Metropolitan in 2004. The $89 million high-rise project includes 251 rental and homeownership units, 115 of which are affordable to low and moderate income families. The 133 rental units have rents ranging from $365 for the formerly homeless to luxury units renting at $2,600 per month and the 138 for-sale condominiums sold at prices affordable to families earning 80% of area median income to prices in excess of $1 million for the penthouse units, the first in the neighborhood. Additionally, The Metropolitan includes community space for community-based social service groups; street-level retail and commercial space; and two-levels of underground parking with 283 spaces. The 23-story Metropolitan is the tallest affordable housing project in the country sponsored by a community development corporation. At 46% affordable and with over 40,000 square feet of community space for public use and agencies, The Metropolitan certainly reached new heights of community development.
Asian Community Development Corporation