Boston’s biggest workforce housing development sets its parameters

Developer Related Beal has started accepting applications for what it has called “the largest new construction of affordable and workforce housing in downtown Boston in more than a quarter-century”—namely, the 14-story, 239-unit Beverly at 101 Beverly Street near North Station.

Just how affordable? The so-called workforce units are available to households earning an annual income of between $64,500 and $198,000. Rents in those units start at $1,940 a month.

The Beverly’s affordable-housing units are available to households with annual incomes of $17,578 to $60,000, according to the developer. Rents on those units start at $492 a month.

Applications are due by September 6 to qualify for a January 2018 move-in.

We’d like to say that this is the start of an affordability trend for downtown Boston, but it’s very likely not.

The Beverly was born of an alchemy of state and city subsidies—Related Beal bought a 99-year ground lease on the site from the state—and the developer’s own deep financing reserves. Plus, the site only exists because the Big Dig sank I-93.

Still, the mix of non-market-rate studios, one-bedrooms, two-bedrooms, and even two dozen three-bedrooms will be a welcome addition to housing-starved Boston.

• Website: The Beverly [Related Beal]
• Is This complex affordable housing deal a promising model or a unicorn? [Next City]
• 10 projects set to transform Boston [Curbed Boston]
• Boston’s physical landscape: 4 huge decisions that shaped it [Curbed Boston]