Chinatown`s Hudson Street Neighborhood to Be Restored on Parcel 24: Asian Community Development Corporation and New Boston Fund to Create 300 New Homes, Retail and Open Space

Boston, MA (4/24/06)- Community residents and activists welcomed news on Thursday, March 30, when the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority granted developer designation for Big Dig Parcel 24 to development partners Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) and New Boston Development Partners (NBDP), an affiliate of the New Boston Fund. The team will build more than 300 rental and homeownership residential units, approximately 50% of which will be affordable to low income households. The sustainable, mixed-use design is currently budgeted at $120 million and features retail and community space, a public park, green rooftops, underground parking, and significant street-level landscaping.

"It`s about time," noted Lydia Lowe, Executive Director of the Chinese Progressive Association and a key participant in the Hudson Street for Chinatown coalition, which advocated for affordable housing and other community benefits on Parcel 24. "The community has been working together for three years to demand that this former piece of Chinatown be designated for affordable housing development."

The Asian CDC and the New Boston Fund proposal was based on the community vision developed by the HSC after numerous community workshops and participatory design charettes. The design is based on an extensive community visioning process involving educational workshops, participatory design charettes, and the dedicated efforts of hundreds of community members over thousands of hours. The land for Parcel 24 belonged to Chinatown residents before it was taken by the Turnpike Authority for construction of the Central Artery and this development will restore both sides of Hudson Street to active community use.

"This is an important achievement for ACDC and a major step for our continued growth," notes Caroline Chang, the chair of ACDC`s Board of Directors. "For those of us who used to live on Hudson Street, this will provide an opportunity to `come home` and to keep Chinatown alive and well." Chang, who was actually born on the site, and 300 other Chinatown residents were displaced from Hudson Street when the land was taken by eminent domain for the construction of the Central Artery in 1962.

Parcel 24 is the latest in a series of mixed-income communities that ACDC has developed in downtown Boston over the past 20 years. Parcel 24 is a major milestone in ACDC`s mission to improve the quality of life for Asian Americans and the communities in which they live. The New Boston Fund will be investing equity in the project from the Urban Strategy America Fund, a double bottom line fund that provides solid economic and social returns for its investors. The development of Parcel 24 is a significant commitment of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to ensure that not only are there significant open space and environmental benefits of the Central Artery project, but that there are substantial contributions to the effort the address Massachusetts` affordable housing crisis.

"This project creates affordable and sustainable housing, economic development and revitalization in a great urban neighborhood and fits exactly with the values of the Urban Strategy America Fund," said Urban Strategy America Fund Managing Director John Dragat. "We`re honored to work with ACDC on this creative development that will be positive for the community as well as our investors."

Continuing the spirit of the two and a half year-long Hudson Street for Chinatown campaign, which set an extremely high standard for the site`s redevelopment, ACDC and NBDP are excited to work closely with the Chinatown community to achieve the promise of a restored neighborhood. "We can now imagine the day when we can all stand together to welcome home a generation of residents and provide hundreds of opportunities for new families to grow up in Chinatown" remarked Jeremy Liu, the Executive Director of ACDC.

"We would not had the opportunity and honor of taking on the responsibility of this project had it not been for the key support of Speaker DiMasi, Senator Wilkerson, and Senator Baddour and Representative Wagner and the other members of the Joint Committee on Transportation" added Liu.

"I look forward to a fruitful relationship with ACDC and the New Boston Fund and hope to have Chinatown residents continue to have a lot of input in making our vision realized through our partnership," stated Chong Chow, another active HSC participant.

The development remains subject to review by the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the City of Boston permitting process and well as Section 106 reviews associated with Federal Highway land. Predevelopment is anticipated to last two years, and the partners hope to break ground in 2008.

Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) is a non-profit, community-based organization with a mission of improving the quality of life for Asian Americans in Greater Boston and the communities in which they live. Established in May 1987, the primary goal of ACDC is to develop healthy, affordable housing for the community. The organization has developed over $100 million of mixed-income housing in Boston`s Chinatown and operates a portfolio of complementary community development programs geared towards the Asian community. For more information please visit www.asiancdc.org.

Based in Boston, New Boston Fund is one of the fastest-growing private real estate investment, development and management firms in New England. Founded in 1993 by the Rappaport family of Boston, New Boston Fund owns and manages more than 14 million square feet of commercial real estate worth more than $1.5 billion. For more information please visit www.newbostonfund.com.