Brownfields
Success Story
Bartlett Station
Boston, Massachusetts
The Dudley Square neighborhood of Roxbury (Boston), Massachusetts
has a history of post-industrial disinvestment and environmental justice
concerns. In recent years there has been a focus on revitalizing the
community, including renovation of historic buildings, cleaning up
brownfields, and construction of new housing. Bartlett Station, a former
mass transit maintenance facility operated by the Massachusetts Bay
Transit Authority (MBTA), is a good example of this trend. Formerly
known as Bartlett Yard, this site has been cleaned up and is being
redeveloped into an innovative urban mixed-use development designed
to enhance Boston's historic Dudley Square neighborhood. In addition to
housing, Bartlett Station will provide space for public art and events,
markets, and shops.
Figure 1: Public Plaza
Credits: Nuestra CDC
Priming the Property for Redevelopment
With the need for market-rate rental and homeowner housing, Bartlett
Place is designed to enhance the neighborhood while creating homes for
moderate-income families at a location once burdened by contamination.
The eight-acre site was formerly used by MBTA to perform maintenance
work on buses and trains, which resulted in air quality and other
environmental issues for residents. The former buildings at the site
contained asbestos and lead paint, and soils were contaminated with
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), petroleum, and heavy metals. The
presence of this and other brownfields in this densely populated
neighborhood, combined with a large minority population and high rates
of asthma and other public health issues, have brought environmental
justice concerns to the forefront in Dudley Square.
Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation (Nuestra CDC) sponsored
a subsidiary nonprofit specifically for this site redevelopment project.
They acquired Bartlett Yard from the MBTA in 2010 with the vision of
following a community-driven process to transform the blighted property
into a true asset for the neighborhood. Beginning in 2011, the
Environmental Protection Agency awarded $1M in cleanup grant funding
for cleanup of the five parcels that make up the site. Nuestra CDC is a
leading community-based developer with a strong relationship with the
Boston Local Initiative Support Corporation, and
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA Grant Recipient:
Nuestra Comunidad Development
Corporation
Grant Types:
Cleanup
Former Uses:
Bartlett Yard - Bus and Train
Maintenance Facility
Current Use:
Bartlett Station - Urban mixed-use
development
Figure 2: Bartlett Station Apartments

-------
Figure 3: Former Bus Yard Credits: Nuestra CDC
Windale Developers, inc., a local for-profit developer experienced in
market-rate and affordable for-sale development.
With state and private partners, investments leveraged included
construction loans, equities, and sponsorships totaling more than $32M.
As the project continues toward its projected 2022 completion date, it
will continue to generate both construction jobs and permanent jobs,
while ensuring that most of the contracting dollars go to minority-owned
businesses.
Today
Bartlett Station is envisioned as a creative village, with Oasis@ Bartlett, a
15,000 square foot public arts plaza, as the centerpiece of the
redevelopment, along with a grocery store that will provide affordable
and healthy organic food. Qasis@ Bartlett will include space for visual art
installations, staging for performances, benches, garden area, and tree-
shading. Featuring historical elements, the plaza will highlight local
history and culture including the Bartlett Pear and Roxbury Russet Apple
trees which originated locally. Signage and installations will honor the
multi-cultural heritage and history of activism in Roxbury.
The new housing being constructed at Bartlett Station includes both
rental and ownership opportunities designed to benefit the local
community. The first building at the development offers 60 residential
units, 32 of which are set aside for lower-income residents (those earning
30%-60% of Area Median Income), as well as commercial space on the
first floor. The additional housing being built at Bartlett Station will be
similarly inclusive of lower income residents.
Bartlett Station will also be a green neighborhood featuring innovative
energy technology and sustainability practices. A village-wide energy
production system will make Bartlett Station a net energy producer. The
homes will be LEED-certifiable for new housing (LEED for Homes) and
new commercial construction (LEED-NC), by incorporating passive solar
heating, geothermal heat pumps, rain and gray water recycling and safe,
renewable finishes and materials and other green features. A tree
canopy in the plaza area will help counter heat island conditions in the
area. In June 2018, Nuestra Comunidad and its Bartlett Station project
partners won the "Environmental-Energy Merit Award for Leadership by
a Non-Profit Organization" by the Environmental Business Council of New
England.
"Bartlett Station is a
transformative, equitable, and
anti-gentrification redevelopment.
On an 8-acre former brownfield
site, Nuestra and our partner
Windale Developers are building
129 for-sale homes, 194
apartments and 48,000 square feet
of commercial space. The housing
will be two-thirds affordable. The
new homeowners will gain $500
million in equity over 20 years. The
project will generate 150
permanent jobs and approximately
900 construction jobs, with over
60% going to workers of color.
Over 60% of the contracting dollars
will go to Minority Business
Employers."
David Price, Executive Director
Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation
For more information:
Visit the EPA Brownfields website at
www.epa.gov/brownfields or contact
Frank Gardner, 617-918-1278,
Gardner.frank@epa.gov
EPA 560-A-19-009

-------