In the second phase of a larger plan that will fundamentally change the use of several blocks along the corridor, five candidates are being considered for designations as developers of 12 of the 18 vacant lots put out to bid last summer in the Grove Hall section of Blue Hill Avenue.
City officials are reviewing proposals and expect to make decisions by mid-December, according to officials at the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH).

Of the five candidates, four have plans to build mixed-use buildings that would remake the 300 block of Blue Hill Avenue – a bustling part of Grove Hall that has lively businesses, but still bears the scars, or empty lots, from unrest and disinvestment in the 1960s and 1970s.
The fifth developer, Mass Liberation, is a non-profit looking to have a smaller lot at 190 Blue Hill Ave. that the company already cares for designated for development as programmed open space.

City officials convened a meeting earlier this fall in which each developer revealed its plans publicly, with vacant lots in the 300 block as the focus. The companies included Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC), Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, MTK Development, and NS Partners. Each had its own program for the various lots, with some submitting plans for multiple buildings, but all four zeroing in on the largest vacant lot, at 376 Blue Hill Ave.

The proposals came from an RFP released last summer after an expanded community process, said MOH’s Julio Pilier. That process defined what the community wanted on the sites, such as a greater diversity of businesses and homeownership opportunities.

At the outset of the fall meeting, state Senator-elect Liz Miranda said, “One thing I notice about Blue Hill Avenue is that sometimes the materials used are not of the highest quality,” she said. “Though we want to focus on affordability and addressing the high cost of building in a post-Covid world, we don’t want to see wood or brick falling off. I want every project to address the high-quality materials in any projects because we deserve to live in high-quality units as well.”

For the lot at No. 376, which sits in front of the Masjid Al-Qur’an Mosque, the MTK Development team – led by Wadi Muhammad – received the best feedback. By naming the building after his brother, the late Marzuq Muhammad, the team stressed their connections to the community in growing up in Grove Hall and attending the mosque.

“We believe the people who lived through the disinvestment should be able to live through the investment,” said Muhammad. “Our principals have roots in the Grove Hall community, and we want to make sure Marzuq Plaza is a model for community engagement and sustainable development for years to come…Our project doesn’t just aim to build buildings, but to also build the capacity of the people that live in them.”

The MTK project, which focuses on one lot, would include 15 units of affordable homeownership and larger units for families in transition, and would likely be connected to a private rehabilitation project in a building owned by the mosque. There would be three retail spaces, and, the team said, they already have Letters of Interest from Sweet Teez Bakery of Codman Square and Shea Butter Café, which operates a smoothie store at Lambert’s Plaza.

“This area where this has been proposed had years of gangs and things on Intervale Street and Brunswick Street and many of our youth have died, particularly our Black males,” said resident Grace Richardson. “It’s just wonderful to see this presentation by this group of young Black men and the females that presented, too.”

Other proposals for No. 376 included Codman Square NDC’s 24-unit rental building with 14 parking spaces, a community room, and two ground floor retail spaces. Executive Director Gail Latimore stressed the organization’s “long track record” of doing such projects and supporting minority-owned businesses.

Codman Square’s proposal also includes grand plans for a 25-unit rental building on a vacant lot at 328 Blue Hill Ave., which is now unofficial open space adjacent to the ‘Breathe Life II’ mural by Rob “Problak” Gibbs. That building would include one retail space and five parking spots.
NS Parters, a combination of Norfolk Construction and SMJ Development, presented the most comprehensive plan, looking to put up three buildings with homeownership opportunities on vacant lots in the 300 block with all connected by a workforce development and training program.

NS Partners’s proposal for No. 376 also received high praise at the meeting, especially for the homeownership aspects and the training programs. That plan includes 19 units of workforce homeownership and a large training/maker space at ground level. Norfolk’s Adler Bernadin suggested the possibility of a partnership there with Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Roxbury.

The other two buildings in their plan include seven units of artist live work homeownership at 391 Blue Hill Ave. – NS Partners is the only company to propose something for that lot – and seven units of workforce homeownership in a building at 353 Blue Hill Ave., where, again, they were the only company to promote a plan for that lot.

Habitat for Humanity also proposed homeownership in a two-building plan for 376 and 328 Blue Hill Ave. Its plan for 376 includes six units of homeownership in a U-shaped building that would have a large retail component. The plan for 328 would see 10 units of homeownership in an L-shaped building with a courtyard. Both buildings would have two to four commercial units in total that would be for sale to businesses, rather than for leases.

The CSNDC rental building at 376 Blue Hill Ave.

While there was a great deal of interest and excitement in this second group of vacant Blue Hill Avenue parcels (the first group was between Morton Street and Franklin Field), there were five lots that didn’t receive proposals. All on Blue Hill Avenue, they included No. 343 (5,234 sq. ft.), No. 63. (2,442 sq. ft.), No. 230 (3,613 sq. ft.), No. 235 (5,779 sq. ft.), and No. 238 (2,750 sq. ft.).

City officials said they would brainstorm what to do with the smaller lots, but they intend to regroup with the community after they designate developers.

“Our plan going forward is to assess the proposals we received that are eligible, but we also plan to continue working on these other parcels,” said Pilier during the meeting last fall. “Whether it’s a site we didn’t designate or didn’t receive a proposal for, what we plan to do is to continue to work with these and engage the community and take all of the parcels that were unassigned or had no proposals in a forthcoming RFP after we refine what we’re looking for.”

NS Partners proposes an artist live work building with seven homeownership units at the corner of Blue Hill and Brunswick Streets.

NS Partners proposed this seven-unit homeownership building at 353 Blue Hill Ave.

As part of a three-building plan, NS Partners would use the building at 376 Blue Hill Ave. as an anchor for workforce homeownership and a training/workforce development program running throughout their buildings.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston has proposed a two-building homeownership program, including at 376 Blue Hill Ave., left, and 328 Blue Hill Ave., right.
Renderings courtesy Mayor’s Office of Housing