Bunker Hill
Housing Redevelopment

There are currently 42 buildings on the site that will be demolished and replaced with 15 new buildings.

There are currently 1,110 units on the site that will be demolished in phases over the course of the project.

2,699 units will be built on site - including 1,010 deeply affordable replacement units and 1,689 market-rate units.

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No, the BHA has announced that they are replacing the other 100 deeply affordable units off-site at another location in Charlestown so there will be no loss of any deeply affordable units in Charlestown.

All of the units will be rental apartments, with a mix of market-rate and deeply affordable units.

For the market-rate units, it will be a mix of studios, one, two, and three bedrooms. Deeply affordable units will be a mix of one, two, three, and four bedrooms.

The maximum building height will be 10 stories, with those buildings located near the Tobin Bridge and the center of the site.

Along Bunker Hill Street, buildings will be 4 stories. Along Medford Street buildings will be 4 stories across from residential areas, and up to 6 stories across from the high school playing fields.

The plan calls for a total of 7 acres of open space, of which 2.8 acres will be designated for publicly accessible open space concentrated in four large-format areas throughout the site. Altogether, the publicly accessible open spaces on the site will be more than the size of two football fields. We will continue to work closely with the community to design and program these park-type spaces.

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• There are currently 340 trees on site.
• 98 (29%) are in poor or dead condition and are not viable for preservation.
• 242 trees are in good or fair condition and are viable for preservation.
• We currently expect that we will be able to preserve 89 trees across the site. This is 37% of the 242 good/fair condition trees.
• Over 500 trees will be planted during the 8-10 year development window, nearly doubling the number of individual trees on-site and replacing the total removed DBH (diameter at breast height) after 5-10 years of growth.

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Phase 1 preserves 14 out of 48 good/fair condition trees. Trees identified for removal are in locations that conflict with building demolition, road and sidewalk improvements, new building footprints, or grading changes required for accessibility and resiliency.

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In phase 1, we will plant 19 new trees around Building F, 32 new trees around Building M, and 72 new street trees for a total of 123 new trees.

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No. The addition of over 500 new trees will increase the overall tree canopy on site over time and will create a continuous street tree canopy that does not currently exist.

• A detailed trees Q&A can be found here.
• The presentation from the 3/15/21 trees focused public meeting can be found here.
• The Arborist's report can be found here.

As of June 7, 2023, the following tree work has been performed:

• Tree removal and preservation work is ongoing. 
• There were originally 48 trees on the Phase 1 sites, 34 of which were in good or fair condition.
• As of the last public meeting on 3/15/21, we planned to preserve 14 of those 34 good/fair trees.
• Since that meeting, street and sidewalk requirements finalized during the City’s Public Improvement Commission process necessitated the removal of 3 additional trees.
• To date, 17 good/fair trees have been removed, some of which were harvested to reclaim wood for use on site. The remaining 6 good/fair trees slated for removal will be removed during the construction process of Phase 1.
• A total of 11 good/fair trees have been preserved, including 2 good/fair Dogwood trees that have been transplanted and are doing well.
• An additional 2 trees are marked to be preserved that were in poor condition. 1 of those poor condition trees was assessed as being in poor condition but recommended for pruning in order to preserve. The second was assessed as being in poor condition and recommended for removal, but it is at the edge of the construction work area and may be able to be preserved if there is not further deterioration in the tree’s health due to natural causes. 

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Preserving these trees is a priority to the design and development teams. As part of the overall Master Plan effort, we engaged an Arborist to provide an independent survey and accounting of the Bunker Hill trees. This work provided three important resources. First, the detailed survey allowed us to accurately locate each tree on site and to work with the Architecture and Civil Engineering teams to identify trees which are “most preservable” early in the design process. This evaluation took into account factors such as the location of the tree within the proposed master plan, adjacency to built environment changes which would affect light levels and root extents, and proposed grading changes.  

The second major resource is an evaluation of the current health of the existing trees. Like the current housing stock, many of the trees date to the original development in the early 1940s and have not had the benefit of sustained maintenance throughout the decades. The Arborist’s assessment gave the design team tools to identify which trees might be expected to thrive for years to come and which are nearing the end of their natural lifespan. With this knowledge, the design team was able to prioritize the preservation of our healthiest trees and allow them to serve as the foundation for a new urban forestry experience.

Finally, the Arborist’s report identified the current level of species diversity. Species diversity is an incredibly important factor in planning for climate and ecological resiliency. Providing a wide variety of individual tree species protects the urban forest from depletion as a result of disease, invasive pest or inability to adapt to radical climate shifts. Species diversity also provides habitat resources to a wider array of urban wildlife, birds and insect communities. In understanding the current plant community, the design team developed a proposed tree palette which acknowledges the current species range and provides a wider range of supplemental species in the form of new trees. This expansion of species diversity will continue beyond the trees and include a broad selection of native/adaptive shrubs and perennials – replacing the current landscape largely dominated by yews and grass.

The Arborist's report can be found here. Find more information about trees here.

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No. New street trees will be planted at 3” caliper. A 3” caliper shade tree will vary in size based on species, but is typically in the 14’-16’ height range (American Standard for Nursery Stock ANSI Z60.1-2004). Within the new public open spaces, larger 6” caliper trees (>20’ height) will be added as space allows.

3” caliper trees are the largest size recommended by Bartlett Tree Experts for street tree installation. Younger trees are generally more resilient to the stresses associated with transplantation and planting. These include: changes in light conditions (from a nursery to urban context), changes in soil conditions, and exposure to road salts.

This resiliency allows younger trees to recover more quickly from “transplantation shock” resulting in healthier, larger urban street trees. Often trees planted at 3” caliper exceed the heights of trees planted at 5” within a few seasons.

There will be 70,000 SF of community and retail space.

Yes, there will be a community center on site.

We do not yet know the exact number of parking spots that will be added. This will be determined through the Article 80 process with feedback from the community.

We officially resumed our Article 80 process after we filed our Draft Project Impact Report (DPIR) on February 18, 2020. However, the public process was paused, and public meetings were postponed in March due to COVID-19. We resumed that public process with our first BPDA public meeting on September 9, 2020, followed by additional IAG, BCDC, and public meetings for full public review.

The project has now received all master site and phase one design approvals from City of Boston regulatory boards. Subsequent phases will also be taken through public comment and BCDC design review processes.

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We submitted our Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) to MEPA in July 2020 and have now received our final MEPA certificate for the entire site, including Phase 1.

Prior to COVID we sought a Phase 1 waiver because of timing considerations. We were able to request this because as a standalone project the first phase of the Bunker Hill Housing Redevelopment (the first two buildings) would not exceed mandatory environmental requirements to be subject to MEPA review. Our purpose in requesting this waiver was to enable us to start construction for the first phase only before the MEPA FEIR (Final Environment Impact Report/state) was completed for the overall site plan. This did not affect the BPDA Article 80 process and we continued to engage with the MEPA office regularly when the City public process was paused in March 2020. Due to delays associated with COVID-19, the Phase 1 waiver was no longer relevant as we completed the full MEPA process for the entire site before the start of construction on Phase 1.

Site preparation started in December 2022 for the first two buildings (Building M and Building F). Interior abatement and demolition work for Building M started in April 2023, with interior abatement work and demolition for the Building F site following thereafter. Construction on Building M began in early 2024.

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After receiving City approvals, there is still a process to complete design and finalize City documents prior to submitting for a building permit.

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We expect that the new buildings will begin to be delivered in early 2025.

Approximately 3 months

As the project’s Construction Management Plan was developed, detailed meetings were held with Phase One abutters and subsequently with the Charlestown community. With each future phase, there will be additional public meetings and a design review process.

Outside of public meetings, the project team will also update the website weekly with current construction activities information. The Development team will continue to send e-updates to residents/general public who sign up for our mailing list here.

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Upon completion, Building M will consist of 102 units and Building F will consist of 265 units.

8-10 years

You will be notified 9 months to a year in advance of when you will move out of your current apartment. At that time, a relocation specialist will work with you to identify the best options for your family. The redevelopment team will maximize the ability to provide on-site, one-way moves for residents. Residents in Phase 1A can click here for more information about relocation.

Boston Housing Authority has hired a relocation specialist to handle this process. They will reach out to you at the appropriate time. In the meantime, you can reach out to BHA staff, Amy Tran at 617-988-4316 with questions.

Yes, everyone who currently lives in the development and wants to return will be able to.

The land will remain under Boston Housing Authority (BHA) ownership, with each building developed as a privately-owned building subject to a 99-year ground lease with the BHA. Affordable units will remain affordable under the ground-lease.

The new buildings will be managed by a management company hired by the developer with input from the BHA and CRA. Existing buildings will continue to be managed by the BHA until demolished.

Due to a lack of sufficient federal capital funding to upgrade and preserve the development, the BHA entered into a partnership with a private development team (Corcoran/LMP) to redevelop the property to ensure the long-term preservation of the site.

• There are no 100% market-rate buildings.
• There will be a maximum of three (3) all-affordable buildings.
• There will be 12 mixed-income buildings, each containing a minimum of 22% deeply affordable units.
• Mixed-income buildings may incorporate middle-income units in future phases, if feasible.
• The overall unit mix for the development is 62.6% market-rate and 37.4% deeply affordable.
  

• The Development team will continue to post the latest information on this website.
• The Development team will continue to answer community questions via email at info@bunkerhillhousing.com.
• The Development team will continue to send monthly e-updates to residents/general public who sign up for our mailing list here.
• The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and the Charlestown Residents Alliance (CRA) will provide consistent updates via a printed newsletter to current Bunker Hill Housing residents. The CRA also encourages Bunker Hill residents to join their Facebook page.
• As part of the continued planning process, development team members will continue to meet with individual community organizations and elected officials as appropriate.

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