Nuestra breaks ground on Dartmouth Hotel renovation

The long-vacant upper floors of the Dartmouth Hotel building in Dudley Square will soon receive a makeover and, more importantly, residents.

The Nuestra Communidad Development Corporation aims to renovate the building at the corner of Warren and Dudley streets to provide 65 new units of housing.

The project, on which the organization broke ground last week, will include the erection of a four-story structure next door where the Nubian Notion annex currently stands.

The housing will be for individuals and couples, with 58 studio and single-bedroom units and seven artists' lofts.

Most of the units will be subsidized, 45 of them for individuals or couples earning below 60 percent of the area's median income, which for individuals is $31,000.

A further 13 units will be set aside for tenants earning between 80 and 100 percent of the median, while the remaining seven will be rented at the market rate, according to Nuestra Executive Director Evelyn Friedman.

The development's HUD contract guarantees that 45 of the units will remain subsidized for the next 15 years.

"I think that as long as Nuestra continues to own the property it will remain affordable," said Friedman. "But I think we all have to be vigilant about making sure Dudley gets the property developed, but not gentrified to the level where people can't afford to live here."

Community groups in the Dudley neighborhood have been pushing for more affordable housing in their area to ensure that the neighborhood's low-income population will not be priced out if the neighborhood becomes attractive to the well-to-do.

Nuestra has done its part. It rents out 300 apartments designated affordable for lower-income people and has sold 300 homeownership units that are also designated affordable.

A series of development projects has poised the long-struggling shopping district for a turnaround.

The creation of the Orchard Gardens housing development recently brought much-needed affordable housing to the area. A new public kindergarten through eighth grade school will open nearby in the fall. And the Paladio Hall building across Warren St. from the Dartmouth was recently revitalized to house office and retail space.

"Just look a half mile around and look at what is going on," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino during the ground-breaking, held under a tent across Warren St. from the Dartmouth. "You've waited a long time in Dudley and finally it's coming. The best days are ahead."

Nuestra has been planning the project since it bought the land in August of 2001. The group solicited input on the project from merchants, Dudley Main Streets, the Roxbury Neighborhood Council and nearby neighborhood groups.

Early on, the organization determined that converting the upper floors into offices or condominiums, as some community members wanted, would not be feasible.

"There was more money available for rental because you have tax credits and a variety of other things," explained Friedman.

Office space requires more parking than housing and condominiums would not produce a high enough return, she said.

Furthermore the Dartmouth enjoys few green spaces within walking distance and thus would not be well-suited for families, according to Friedman.

"We thought it would be better for adult housing than families," she said.

In addition to providing more affordable housing in the area, the project will benefit the Roxbury community by generating business for local contractors.

Two Roxbury-based contractors, Crosswinds Construction and Biltrite Construction, have been hired to spearhead the project. Crosswinds is 100 percent minority-owned and both companies have agreed that at least 60 percent of the businesses they hire will be minority-owned while at least 60 percent of the workers will be people of color.

Funding for the Dartmouth development is coming from 15 different public and private donors, including Fleet Bank, which is investing $8 million. The state is investing $9.3 million in the project, according to Friedman.

Construction is scheduled to begin in June and the developers aim to complete the project in August 2004.

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