Cote Village project nears halfway mark

Cote Village rendering. Davis Square Architects

The transformation of a long-abandoned car dealership on Cummins Highway in Mattapan into a complex of buildings with 76 units of affordable housing is just about at the mid-point of construction work.  The progress of Cote Village, the new development just steps from a new commuter rail station on the Fairmount Line in Mattapan, was discussed Monday during a virtual meeting of the Woodhaven Culbert Regis Neighborhood Association.

Donald Alexis, president of the Caribbean Integration Community Development (CICD,) told about 30 people on the call that although the project was delayed by pandemic shutdowns, construction has kept pace overall.

“In March, because of Covid-19, we were stopped for probably five weeks. We started again in May and things have been moving along just fine. We’ve finished about 50 percent of the project,” said Alexis. 

The project includes a four-story housing complex with 68 affordable units, and a separate townhouse building containing 8 market rate units, 4,172 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, including a 12,000-square-foot public plaza, and 84 parking spaces. 

“For the townhouses, we’ve finished installing the roofing, windows and HVAC [Heating, Venting & Air Conditioning], and we are just waiting to get the siding materials and finish up inside,” said Alexis, adding that the team expects the townhouses to be completed by July or August of this year. 

“The big building, the one at Cummins Highway,” he said, “will be completed at the latest in October to mid-November. We’ve finished the third floor and so there’s just one more floor to be added.” 

The development is a collaboration of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, Inc. (POUA) and CICD. The non-profit agencies have worked in a unique partnership, with design services added by Davis Square Architects.

City officials originally approved the project in 2016, putting its cost at $31.2 million. After a number of community comment sessions, final approvals were given in July 2019, and groundbreaking followed that December.

The units will be available to residents at a range of incomes, including 12 for residents with incomes at or below 30 percent of the area median income (AMI) — people earning less than $27,900 for a household of three. Of these units, 8 will be set aside for formerly homeless individuals and families.

Specifically: Two units will be reserved for residents with incomes at or below 50 percent of AMI; 42 for residents with incomes at or below 60 percent of AMI; 12 for residents with incomes at or below 80 percent AMI; and 8 for residents with incomes at or below 100 percent of AMI.
The city and state helped to finance the development through a combination of tax credits and loans, as well as a $750,000 award from the Neighborhood Housing Trust and $4.8 million from the Inclusionary Development Policy fund.


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