Affordable Housing Finance Magazine 2019 Readers’ Choice Award: Historic Rehab Category

The Planning Office for Urban Affairs attended the AHF Live: 2019 Affordable Housing Developers Summit and award ceremony in November at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago!

The Union at 48 Boylston was chosen as the historic rehab winner in Affordable Housing Finance magazines 2019 Readers' Choice Awards! The Planning Office for Urban Affairs (POUA) and St. Francis House, the largest day shelter service provider in the City of Boston, acquired and rehabilitated the former Boston Young Men's Christian Union building, originally constructed in 1875 to provide support for adults and families with a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. 

The Union at 48 Boylston, completed at the end of 2018, continues the original mission of the Boston Young Men's Christian Union building by providing a better quality of life for residents. The Union at 48 Boylston provides 46 units of affordable housing, including 25 targeted to those who have experienced homelessness, in a gentrifying neighborhood with an influx of luxury housing. It includes 12,000 square feet for St. Francis House’s administrative offices, opening up space for a substance abuse counseling program and additional services at its building across the street. In addition, the Urban Hound at St. Francis House, a dog day care and grooming venture, provides job training and employment opportunities for residents and clients.

"The redevelopment preserves many beautiful and distinctive features of the building, including the Victorian Gothic façade as well as interior features such as marble fireplaces and Corinthian columns." - Amarillys Rodriguez, Development and Policy Project Manager for POUA

https://www.housingfinance.com/developments/ahf-announces-2019-readers-choice-award-winners_o

Thanks to all that helped to make this project possible!

Developers: Planning Office for Urban Affairs and St. Francis House
Architect: The Architectural Team
Contractor: Gilbane Construction 
Major Funders: Bank of America Merrill Lynch; commonwealth of Massachusetts (Department of Housing and Community Development, Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., and MassHousing); city of Boston (Department of Neighborhood Development and Neighborhood Housing Trust); Massachusetts Historical Commission; National Park Service; Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston; Eastern Bank