Dorchester, MA | 2025
After more than two decades in planning and development, Four Corners Plaza in Dorchester’s Codman Square, opened earlier this year as the new home of 35 low- and moderate-income families. READ MORE
Developed by the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC) and located in the heart of the Square, there was a tremendous need for affordable housing in this neighborhood. The prominent location at the corners of Washington, Harvard, Bowdoin, and Nottingham Streets, however, is a challenging hillside site. We worked with the CSNDC to design as many housing units as possible while also fulfilling the group’s desire to meet the neighborhood needs of local businesses. The final design included a low-rise building with 32 apartments and three commercial spaces for neighborhood businesses.
To solve the need for larger three-bedroom units and meet the site challenges, we designed three townhouses separately from the building. The townhouses sit perpendicular to the apartment building, near the corner, and face Bowdoin Avenue.
The uncertainty of funding, zoning issues, community concerns resulted in many starts and stops on this project.
CSNDC left no stone unturned in searching for and securing governmental and private funding as well as loans. To make the project a reality took incredible commitment and persistence among many people, especially the CSNDC leadership.
The slow funding approvals process, the need for multiple government agency approvals, and inflation all added to many years of delays. In October of 2022 ground was finally broken on the project and construction was completed in 2025.
