While ongoing roofing work seeks to button up the leaks in Humphreys Art Studios at Uphams Corner, the second phase of New Atlantic Development’s plan to save the studios – which includes a new 21-unit affordable housing development – is underway.

“This has already been given a thumbs up,” said Catherine Infantino, of New Atlantic. “Part of the effort now is reminding people that the saving of the studios was incumbent on building affordable housing here.

“We’re just waiting to hear back from the city because we don’t have an application in for state funding on this, so we’ll be good to go,” she added. “When we get the money in hand, we’re ready to stick a shovel in the ground.”

New Atlantic, led by Brian Goldson and Bill Madsen Hardy, joined the city to intervene in late 2022 to help save the studios from being sold on the open market. The studios’ status has been in flux since 2017 when former owner Joe Wheelwright passed away and the ownership situation came into question. The studios house 45 artists in 30 working studios doing things from traditional visual arts to cabinet makers, to metal workers, to stone carvers. The buildings had been a large-scale dry cleaners operation from 1890 to 1997 before artists moved in around 2002.

The lot where the new building will be put up is now a parking space for artists and construction workers. Seth Daniel photo

Last year’s agreement included $1.7 million from the city through federal Covid monies and other sources, and New Atlantic stepped in to shepherd the studio upgrades and build housing on the vacant lot at the end of Hillsboro Street.

Now the time has come for the housing to be approved and built, said Infantino as the company filed a Small Project Review application with the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) last Friday.

The plan calls for 21 units to be developed in a four-story building on the lot with six parking spots in front. The units would be all-affordable ownership at the 80 percent and 100 percent AMI levels, and 18 of them will have a preference for those with a Boston Artist Certificate. The unit count includes six studios, 3, one-bedrooms, 11 two-bedrooms, and as single three-bedroom.

“We like that this is home ownership,” Infantino said. “We also like the blend of commercial and residential on the site.”

At present, the studios are under the auspices of a board of directors that is controlled by the artists, while New Atlantic continues to make improvements to the two studio buildings. The housing will be an extension of that work, much like the company’s other projects that include ArtBlock in the South End, Hibernian Hall in Nubian Square, the Walter Baker Lofts in Dorchester Lower Mills, and Brookside Studios in Jamaica Plain.

“This is what we do,” said Infantino. “Bill Madsen Hardy is a magician bringing in the financing and saving these types of projects. …It’s just part of the organization’s mission to be supportive of art-based projects.”

If all goes well, Infantino said, they hope to get through permitting, including the Zoning Board of Appeal and the BPDA process, this year and break ground next summer. An early 2025 occupancy for the units is the hope. New Atlantic has been reaching out to the community, and are on the agenda for the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) this week.