A developer who won a city contract to build housing on long-vacant parcels along Blue Hill Avenue held a “pitch party” on Wed., April 2, to hear ideas for two retail spaces that will be part of the build-outs.

Dariela Villon-Maga’s DVM Housing Partners hosted the event in the community room of the Mattapan branch of the Chase Bank with about 90 people in attendance.

Blume plans to build three buildings in the 1000 block of Blue Hill Avenue, with several commercial spaces. Two of those spaces – a 732 square-foot section at 1039 Blue Hill Ave. and a 1,041 square-foot section at 1015 Blue Hill Ave. – were offered to the community via a Request for Proposal (RFP) process last winter that includes public and advisory board reviews.

Villon-Maga said they heard back from Body, Stone and Soul/Smart Startup Human Resources out of Jamaica Plain (Marcel Morris-Howell and Tasha Kitty), Sadiddy Lifestyle Beauty Studio (Skye-Loren Warren), House of Seven Café and Bakery (Tamicka Brown), and EyeDezign Creative Arts Co. (Ivy Davis).

Neldine Torres, a member of the advisory board, said the ‘party’ was a great way to figure out what sort of businesses are needed along the avenue

Others stressed that picking the businesses isn’t enough; residents need to support them once they are open to make sure they thrive enough to stay solvent.

Villon-Maga said they will take the input from the event and work with the advisory board to choose winners by mid-May. A similar process was used for the new building in Fields Corner that now boasts the Just Bookish bookstore in its commercial space.

A package store in the Square
The owners of Sontu and Sabuj Market at 1595 Blue Hill Ave. won approval from the Licensing Board last week for a beer and wine package store permit allowing them to sell specialty Caribbean beer and wine products. Owner Sabuj Barua said they will have about 300 square feet of space devoted to specialty beers and wines requested by customers. The Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council initially opposed the matter, but voted 4-0 at its April 7 board meeting to support the application as long as it got additional review by the city.

On the other hand, Guale Valdez, of the Mattapan Community Health Center, said they opposed the license because they operate substance use disorder programs in close proximity.

“We are also concerned about saturation of alcohol access points along Blue Hill Avenue and near the health center,” he said during the License Board hearing on April 16. “We support local business, but we are concerned with the proximity of this to the programs we offer.”

The board noted that if the owners expand their floor space for alcohol, they will have to come back for approval first.
A burnt-out building

An apartment building that has sat vacant since a 2022 fire was the subject of discussion at the most recent Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council meeting on April 7.

Yauri Ruiz and others noted concerns about the building’s present conditions at 1333 Blue Hill Ave. State Rep. Russell Holmes said he and Councillor Brian Worrell have been working with the owners for about a year to address concerns. He said the owners were underinsured for the fire and used what insurance money they got to pay off the mortgage.

“They paid off the building and have no money to repair it,” Holmes said. “Now we’ve been helping them look for city and state resources to see how they can continue there.”

He said they have been speaking with Sheila Dillon in the Mayor’s Office of Housing about how to restore the property, but any help from the city would require the units to become all affordable housing.

“We’ve been going back and forth with the owners on what that would look like,” he said.