The Loop— a new, 135-unit, mixed-use building next to Mattapan MBTA station— celebrated its grand opening on Tuesday morning with a ribbon cutting and speeches from dignitaries who had gathered to mark the milestone.

“It was only a few years ago this was all blacktop, and now look at it,” said N. Paul TonThat , executive director of Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation, to the crowd listening on what was once an underused MBTA parking lot along River Street.

Mayor Wu and Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll were on hand for the event along with new residents like Janet Getchell, who was one of 3,000 people who applied for a unit in the building.

Janet Getchell, a resident of the Loop, spoke at Tuesday’s grand opening event.
Izzy Bryars photo

“This community is great to reside in and the residents are very kind,” said Getchell, who just moved in. “This community is being built into something we should be proud of and we should clap for that.”

Daily Table, a non-profit grocery store, opened on the ground level on March 30. Two other ground floor retail spaces have yet to be filled

The transit-oriented housing project is the culmination of years of collaboration between city government and private partners, with MassHousing, POAH, and Nuestra working together to finance the build. The project has been years in the making. The MBTA approved a ground lease for the former parking lot in 2016 after a lengthy “request for proposal” process that began in 2003.