225 Centre Building Adds 103 Rental Units in Jackson Square, More to Follow

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor

The intersection of Columbus Avenue and Centre Street, an underutilized section in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, is going through some major changes. Four decades after much of the area was bulldozed to make room for a highway expansion program that was never built, city officials and development partners last week celebrated an important milestone of an ambitious, $250 million redevelopment project of the Jackson Square community that will serve as a gateway between Jamaica Plain and Roxbury.

225 Centre – Jackson Square Boston

An official ceremony marked the grand opening of 225 Centre, which is the first phase of the 14-building revitalization project that broke ground in May 2012. Developed by 225 Centre LLC—a joint venture between Boston-based The Community Builders (TCB), the country’s largest non-profit developer, co-developer Mitchell Properties and contractor Walsh Brothers—and with substantial help from city, state and local officials, the $52 million mixed-income rental building is located close to the Jackson Square MBTA Station and just minutes away from downtown Boston via public transit, bike and car.

The six-story 225 Centre is the largest of the 14 buildings envisioned in the Jackson Square redevelopment plan and was designed by local architecture firm ADD, Inc. to achieve LEED Silver certification. It includes 68 market rate apartments with rents ranging from $1,700 to $2,850 per month and 35 affordable housing units—of which 10 will be occupied by tenants who are formerly homeless—an underground parking garage with 86 spaces, as well as four commercial/retail spaces totaling more than 16,000 square feet on the ground floor. Residents have access to a state-of–the art fitness center and on-site personal storage spaces.

The opening ceremony for 225 Centre coincided with the groundbreaking of Jackson Commons, which is the second phase of the multi-million redevelopment of Jackson Square. This phase of the project is being developed by Urban Edge and calls for the adaptive reuse and renovation of the 100-year-old Webb Building located at 1542 Columbus Avenue and an adjacent vacant lot and the construction of a new, four-story facility. When completed, Jackson Commons will offer 37 mixed-income rental units and approximately 13,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space, part of which will serve as headquarters for Urban Edge.

Rendering courtesy of The Community Builders