B’nai B’rith Housing celebrates opening
of new Parkway 1208

West Roxbury, MA B’nai B’rith Housing, Boston mayor Michelle Wu, state and local officials, housing advocates and neighbors and friends of the nonprofit housing organization celebrated the opening of its newest property, Parkway 1208, the first new affordable housing in the area since 2013.

Parkway 1208 is a new 60-unit workforce residence developed by B’nai B’rith Housing for below-market-rate occupants and offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, accompanied by an array of amenities. It is located at 1208D VFW Pkwy. 

Speakers at the event, attended by about 100 people, included mayor Wu, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities secretary Ed Augustus, state rep. William MacGregor, Catholic Memorial head of school Peter Folan, MassHousing vice president of multifamily programs Mark Teden, and BBH Board Real Estate Council of Advisors chair Ed Zuker, who is also CEO of Chestnut Hill Realty. Others in attendance were state representative Rob Consalvo and Sheila Dillon, director of the mayor’s office of housing.

“Thanks to the many communities here today, in the city and across the state, because a project like this one requires a lot of creativity, innovation, and collaboration,” said Wu. “We know this takes a great deal of teamwork and was a project that happened with a sense of urgency and creativity. It’s the best day when we are able to announce that residents can move into new homes that will give them the stability and the opportunity to access everything that Boston is doing.”

BBH executive director Susan Gittelman said, “This day was a wonderful opportunity to welcome our new families to their new homes. Those who toured the building today were blown away by the exceptional quality of the building, the amenity spaces and the units themselves. The consensus is that this is something special.”

Among the 60 units, 45 are available to households earning less than 60% of the Area Median Income, including units reserved for households transitioning out of homelessness. An additional 15 units are specifically designated for households earning less than 90% of AMI.

“It is especially exciting when mixed-income apartments with affordability are built in a neighborhood where we have been working really hard to site affordable rental housing and that we need to do more,” said Wu. 

“It is a model of possibility for what income restricted family housing across the city of Boston should look like.”

“To the residents of West Roxbury, thank you for welcoming this new building the newest residents of West Roxbury and for collaboration with B’nai B’rith and with our city team with open arms to make this possible,” Wu said. “We need to do a lot more of this all across the City. It gets easier and more possible when we have such solid, incredible examples of how lives change when we do make it happen.”

Features of Parkway 1208 include laundry rooms on each of three floors, on-site service coordinator, community garden, community room with event and home-work space, playground with patio, dog-care room, indoor bike storage, phone-Zoom room, mailroom and package-storage area, and a fitness room. 

“As two organizations coming from our respective faiths, we are aligned and committed to making this a better community, a stronger community, said Folan of Catholic Memorial. “Congratulations on this incredible achievement and welcome to the neighborhood.”

The building has elevators for accessibility and a courtyard with green space. The building has 60 on-site parking spaces, including EV charging stations, and bike storage. It includes energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, as well as Energy Star rated appliances, and environmentally friendly design features throughout. 

Other developments of B’nai B’rith Housing include 1201 River St. in Hyde Park, two phases of The Coolidge at Sudbury on Boston Post Rd. in Sudbury, Mass., 35 Burpee Rd. in Swampscott, Mass., and 27-35 Commonwealth Ave. in Chestnut Hill, Mass.