Mattapan Heights Phase 5A

Federal, state, and city funds will help create more new affordable housing opportunities for families at Mattapan Heights, a residential community that has sprouted on the grounds of what was once an abandoned chronic disease hospital along River Street between Lower Mills and Mattapan Square.

Officials last week announced that Boston-based development company Trinity Financial Inc. will receive approximately $8.75 million in grants and loans towards the construction project, located on River Street at the former site of the Boston Specialty and Rehabilitation Hospital. Construction on the next phase will start as early as the beginning of the next calendar year. The project, officially called Mattapan Heights 5A, marks the fifth phase of construction in the site in 12 years and will create a new four-story building offering 60 affordable housing units.

The long unused property was acquired by the City of Boston in 1996 by the Boston Public Health Commission. Trinity Financial, Inc., a Boston based firm, has led the redevlopment of the site since 1999. To date, Trinity has created 116 assisted living units for elderly residents in the hospital’s former administrative building— known as the Foley building, as well as 163 newly-built affordable housing units.

The new addition— dubbed Mattapan Heights 5A— will be available to families whose total income is 60 percent or lower of the area’s median income and is expected to create approximately 160 jobs during the proposed yearlong construction process.

Officials say the new housing is part of a continued effort to develop Mattapan and attract longtime residents to the neighborhood with stable, affordable rental opportunities.

“Investing in job creation and affordable housing in communities across the Commonwealth will strengthen neighborhoods and regional economies,” said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray in a written statement. “Mattapan Heights 5A will spur economic activity, increase housing options for individuals and families, and improve the quality of life in Boston.”

State Representative Linda Forry played an active role in lobbying for the project’s funding and credited Trinity Financial “for their vision and perseverance in transforming what was once a dormant hospital campus into a beautiful, vibrant new neighborhood,” as well as to her fellow elected officials for forming a successful partnership with the development group.

Trinity Development project manager Eva Erlich said the previous phases of construction have been very popular among tenants. The new building was proposed in response to the more than 500 families currently on a waiting list to join the Mattapan Heights community.

“It’s very apparent that there’s a demand for this housing, this is a real community that wasn’t there 10 years ago,” Erlich said. “Just knowing how successful it’s been, how successful the partnerships have been and offering desirable affordable housing is tied very closely to Trinity’s mission.”

The old Boston Specialty and Rehabilitation Hospital - once home to a busy facility that treated patients with polio and tuberculosis - had become a largely dormant and foreboding place by the early 1990s. The city of Boston convened a Community Advisory Board in 1996 that mandated that the campus should include a mix of health-related uses and new housing opportunities, while at the same time not overbuilding on the campus. In addition to the landmark Foley Building, earlier construction included the adaptive reuse of the Ward Buildings, historically significant structures on the former hospital campus that have been redesigned to accomodate both duplex and more traditional, flat apartment styles.