A rendering of the redeveloped Bunker Hill Public Housing Development in Charlestown. (Courtesy: Stantec)
The ground has broken on what city officials say is Boston’s largest public housing redevelopment in history.
The project will turn the 1,100-unit Bunker Hill Public Housing Development in Charlestown into a 2,699-unit mixed-income community, and officials said Friday the redevelopment has been a long-time coming.
“Transforming Bunker Hill Public Housing Development is critical in keeping residents and families who have called Charlestown home for generations to come,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a release.
Phase one of the multi-pronged project, which carries a cost of $1.4 billion, will decrease the development’s 42 buildings to 15. The new ones will feature residential, retail and community space, along with green spaces and connections to the surrounding community.
A public-private partnership is funding the project.
Suffolk Construction has started working on a four- to six-story apartment building that will offer 102 units that will be subsidized through the federal Section 8 voucher program.
Of the 2,699 units, 1,010 will be rentals priced at a value that officials say is “deeply affordable,” while the 1,689 others are market-rate housing “to help fund and maintain the community over time.”
The project also includes constructing 100 apartments in Charlestown, away from the redevelopment, but officials say all neighborhood families who are displaced will be able to come back to a new on-site unit.
Officials estimate the project to create roughly 1,785 jobs, including 185 permanent retail and property management gigs.
“Bunker Hill families have waited a long time for this day to come and we’re so happy that the work is finally underway,” Boston Housing Administrator Kate Bennett said in a release.