Cruising down Norwell Street in Dorchester, there are almost as many white picket fences fronting vacant lots as there are existing homes. Last month, it was assured that at least one picket fence on Norwell, and two others on neighboring Elmont Street, will come down and eight families will once again call those addresses their homes.

The areas of the Dorchester on either side of Harvard Street were some of the hardest hit by the frequent fires that gave way to the loss of many residents in the 1970s and led to the emergence of hundreds of vacant lots – many of which are now being filled in with housing and other amenities like parks.

On Feb. 16, city officials in the Mayor’s Office of Housing (formerly known as the Department of Neighborhood Development) and Public Facilities Department (PFD) designated Norfolk Design and Construction as the developer for five lots that have been empty for more than 35 years.

“Soon enough, eight families will call those empty lots their home,” said Adler Bernadin, owner of Norfolk, which is a minority-owned and veteran-run developer. “We’re very excited to be the designated developer of these lots. This is part of our core mission, working with the city to build affordable housing and invest in these inner-city neighborhoods. The name of my company – Norfolk – in and of itself has meaning. I lived most of my childhood and adult life on Norfolk Street in Mattapan and Dorchester. I look at this as a way for me to give back to the community that gave so much to me – to develop housing for the community and build back what was lost so long ago.”

Bernadin said after serving in the Marine Corps and a few deployments to Iraq, he came back to the Boston area in 2005 and began to work with the city to develop affordable housing. In this case, after a long process, Norfolk was the only bidder on the RFP and plans to build three townhouses with two units each, and two single-family homes on 143-147 Norfolk St. and 20, 24 and 52 Elmont St. All are homeownership opportunities at 80 to 100 percent area median income. The process of what was to be built on the lots - how many units, what style and affordability ranges - was pre-determined in community meetings between the city and the neighborhood. Once that was determined, a request for proposals (RFP) was put out for that specific development plan.

“This will bring back to use five underutilized lots to the neighborhood for housing,” said Ann Conway, who works for the Mayor’s Office of Housing. “These parcels have been in the city inventory for 35 to 40 years.”

Housing office spokesman Alexander Sturke said they were pleased to have worked through the process with the community and found a developer with local ties to the area. “They provided a competitive development budget and are a certified MBE and veteran-owned company,” Sturke said. “They meet our goal of diversity and inclusion in their leadership team and have included a plan to promote diversity through engagement with local and minority subcontractors through the hiring process. We are excited to see these parcels developed.”

Bernadin said he expected several meetings on the development in the coming months.

According to historic maps, all the lots at one time had homes on them, with 143 Norwell St. once being the home of Charles H. Greenwood, an early 1800s resident of the area and the husband of Sarah Greenwood. The nearby elementary school on Glenway is named after her.

One of the vacant lots on Elmont Street was also owned by Greenwood, who had vast land holdings in the area at the turn of the 20th Century and passed away at his Norwell Street home in 1917.

In addition to the lots won by Norfolk, there are other lots on Norwell Street, Spencer Street, Helen Street and Angell Street that are nearby and further through the process. On those lots the Boston Partnership for Community Reinvestment won designation in 2019 – mostly for one-family homes and a few duplex homes that are a mix of affordable and market-rate units. Construction on those projects started last month.