Over the last 45 years, Dorchester Bay has helped stabilize the local housing market through our commitment to developing high quality affordable housing.
Our partnerships with neighborhood nonprofits and tenant organizations enable us to maximize our impact and meet urgent housing needs as defined and voiced by residents. We are proud of a history that includes creating opportunities both to rent and to own for individuals and families, enabling them to stay and grow in Dorchester.
Over 900 Rental Homes, Over 3,000 Residents
Our buildings throughout Dorchester hold a variety of location, building type, and apartment size options for residents. Dorchester Bay’s Resident and Community Engagement Team supports residents who live in our communities to ensure that their voices are heard and that they have access to the resources they need. We also work closely with three property management companies to ensure high quality maintenance of every unit in our portfolio.
200+ Homes for Homeowners
Dorchester Bay’s homeownership programs have allowed numerous families to build wealth while also stabilizing neighborhoods. By selling these properties to community members who might not otherwise have the wealth-building opportunity of homeownership, we have provided families with access to greater financial security and worked to reverse discriminatory housing policies. Many of our homeownership endeavors involve transforming abandoned houses or properties at-risk of foreclosure into new homes.
Affordable Housing Portfolio
Indigo Block
Overview:
Dorchester Bay transformed this vacant parcel into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development. Indigo Block created high-quality affordable housing and commercial space, with 80 income-restricted rental units affordable to households ranging from very low income to moderate income, 9 homeownership condominium units for first-time homebuyers, and 20,000+ SF of light industrial space. Indigo Block also created a new access point to the Upham’s Corner commuter rail stop. This project catalyzed new development and investment in Upham’s Corner.
Indigo Block aimed to create not only housing, but also long-term jobs in Upham’s Corner. The commercial building is leased to a locally-founded catering company, which will provide job opportunities for local residents. Indigo Block is located blocks from the Upham’s Corner commercial district and adjacent to the Upham’s Corner station on the Fairmount Indigo commuter rail line. Partners on this project include Boston Capital, Escazu Development, and Newmarket Community Partners.
Property Type:
Mixed Use
Units:
80 rental, 9 homeownership condominiums, 10,000 SF commercial space
Residential Affordability:
44 units below 60% AMI, 36 units at 61%-90% AMI
Completed:
2021
Rental Information:
Winn Management (617) 363-8035
Leyland Community
Overview:
In March 2024, Leyland Community opened its doors to older adults in Dorchester who had long struggled with rising housing costs and limited accessible housing options. This fully accessible, 43-unit senior apartment building stands as a testament to the power of community advocacy for dignified, affordable housing. In partnership with Hebrew SeniorLife, DBEDC transformed a long-vacant lot into a vibrant senior living facility—abutted by a community garden and within reach of parks, recreation, and public transit—offering stability, connection, and a renewed sense of home.
Property Type:
Residential
Units:
43
Residential Affordability:
11 units at or below 30% AMI, 13 units below 50% AMI, and 19 units at or below 60% AMI.
Completed:
January 2023
Rental Information:
Hebrew Senior Life (617) 316-6755
555 Dudley Street Apartments / Upham's West
Overview:
Dorchester Bay acquired this distressed multi-family, mixed-use building to stabilize 6 units at risk of losing their affordability status, and to add three additional (then vacant) units to the HOME affordability program. The acquisition and rehabilitation also allowed for the Food Project to expand its office and meeting space to run their urban agriculture and health food programming. Upham’s West also includes 21 Ramsey Street, a formerly infamous site of illegal activity that is now 4 units of affordable housing adjacent to Dorchester Bay’s office space.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental) and Commercial
Units:
13 residential and 2 commercial
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside for 30%, 50% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2013
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, 617-288-3490
618 Dudley Street Apartments
Overview:
This four-unit property was in foreclosure when Dorchester Bay acquired and renovated it, integrating it into DBEDC’s larger portfolio of affordable rental units along Dudley Street.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
4 residential
Residential Affordability:
50% AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2011
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, (617) 606-3566
Alexander Magnolia Cooperative
Overview:
This new construction project is managed by a cooperative association government board, and is largely owned by the residents through a shareholding system built into the rental structure. It is located immediately adjacent to the Upham’s Corner stop on the Fairmount/Indigo Commuter Rail Line.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
38 residential
Residential Affordability:
60% of AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
1993
Information:
Brunswick Holborn
Overview:
Brunswick Holborn includes 49 units in six properties. The buildings were rehabilitated in partnership with Quincy Geneva Housing Corporation. This project and the Columbia Wood project were finalists for ED+C magazine’s “Excellence in Design” award.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
49 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside for 30%, 50% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2007
Rental Information:
Winn Management, 617-442-1443
Ceylon Field Apartments
Overview:
This scattered-site rehabilitation project preserved 62 units of affordable housing.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
62 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside for 30% and 50% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2001
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, (617) 606-3566
Columbia Road Apartments
Overview:
Columbia Road is located along one of Dorchester’s central corridors, just steps from downtown Upham’s Corner.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
134 residential
Residential Affordability:
60% of AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2006
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, 617-288-3490
Columbia Wood
Overview:
Columbia Wood includes 49 units in four properties. The buildings were rehabilitated in partnership with Quincy Geneva Housing Corporation. The renovation included reconfigurations to increase the number of 2- and 3-bedroom apartments. Both this project and the Brunswick Holburn project were finalists for ED+C magazine’s “Excellence in Design” award.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
49 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 60%, 50% and 30% AMI and 200% of federal poverty guideline
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Understanding the Federal Poverty Guidelines
Completed:
2007
Rental Information:
Winn Management, 617-442-1443
Cottage Brook Apartments
Overview:
Cottage Brook Apartments are a scattered site development consisting of 19 walk-up buildings at 50 addresses within the Dudley Street Triangle, a small area straddling the North Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. All of the buildings within the Cottage Brook Apartments are at least 90 years old with unit sizes ranging from studios to six bedrooms. All 19 buildings were recently renovated to preserve their affordability and to update and maintain this important development.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
147 residential
Residential Affordability:
50% AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Understanding the Federal Poverty Guidelines
Completed:
2017
Rental Information:
Winn Management, 617-442-1443
Dudley Terrace
Overview:
Dudley Terrace Apartments is a 56-unit, 5-building scattered site project has been in Dorchester Bay’s portfolio since the 1980s. With initial tax credit and affordable housing funding in 2000, DBEDC created affordable rental opportunities for this project. After two decades more repairs were needed and in 2020, the project was repurchased using new debt and tax credits that funded over $5M in renovations to this new ownership entity, Dudley Terrace Apartments LLC. Buildings received masonry repair and siding replacement, along with all new roofs and windows. The project made improvements to common areas and entry doors, while tenant units received various degrees of repair and replacement to their kitchens and baths. The buildings are now significantly improved and more affordable due to dedicated efforts spent planning and executing this project since 2015.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental) and Commercial
Units:
56 residential and one commercial
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 40%, 50% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2022
Rental Information:
United Housing Management, 617-208-4933
Dudley Village North and South
Overview:
Located along Dorchester’s Dudley Street corridor and sitting on land owned by the Dudley Neighbors Inc Land Trust, Dudley Village contains 50 units of affordable housing (24 in North Dudley and 26 in South Dudley) and approximately 6,260 square feet of commercial space. Having transformed a former crime hot-spot into a vibrant urban village when it was completed in 2008, Dudley Village is a flagship for family-friendly mixed-use development.
Property Type:
Residential and Commercial
Units:
50 residential and 3 commercial
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 30%, 50% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2008
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, (617) 606-3566
Geneva Apartments
Overview:
This all-residential development is owned in partnership by the Geneva Tenant Organization and Dorchester Bay EDC. It was constructed on a former housing authority project site through the HUD/MHFA Demolition/Disposition program.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
47 residential
Residential Affordability:
50% AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2000
Rental Information:
United Housing Management, LLC, (617) 541-5510
Quincy Heights
Overview:
Dorchester Bay partnered with Quincy Geneva Housing Corporation and United Housing Management for the renovation of 80 units and for new construction of 49 units, all located within a three-block radius of Quincy Street in Grove Hall. The new buildings focus on green technologies to reduce energy consumption.
DBEDC and the City of Boston received a $20.5M Choice Neighborhoods Initiative grant for revitalization of the Quincy Street corridor. This project was a central component of the initiative, helping to make Boston the first of the five recipient cities in the country to implement the grant.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
129 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 30% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2015
Rental Information:
United Housing Management, LLC, 617-541-5510
Sister Clara Muhammed Housing Cooperative
Overview:
The Sister Clara Muhammed development combines the adaptive reuse of the long-vacant, historical Benedict Fenwick School with five new duplex-style buildings. This joint venture with Quincy Geneva Housing Corporation received the Maxwell Award for conservation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Property Type:
Residential
Units:
25 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 30% and 60% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
2003
Rental Information:
Winn Management, 617-442-1443
Upham's Corner Apartments
Overview:
Upham’s Corner Apartments involves 36 units in 4 buildings in and near the Upham’s Corner downtown business district.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
36 residential
Residential Affordability:
50% of AMI or less
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
1996
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, (617) 606-3566
Wilder Gardens
Overview:
Wilder Gardens is located in Dorchester’s central corridors, two blocks from the Four Corners/Geneva stop on the Fairmount/Indigo Commuter Rail Line and a short distance from Boston’s beautiful Franklin Park.
Property Type:
Residential (Rental)
Units:
61 residential
Residential Affordability:
Units set aside at 30% and 50% of AMI
Understanding Area Median Income (AMI)
Completed:
1997
Rental Information:
Maloney Properties, 617-288-3490
