BOSTON (WHDH) - Plans to redevelop Suffolk Downs into a mixed-use community are moving forward.
The Boston Planning & Development Agency’s Board of Directors voted early Friday morning to approve the five-phase redevelopment project of the former East Boston race track.
The BPDA says that this project “will create thousands of jobs, affordable and market-rate housing units, and dramatically improve transportation infrastructure and climate resiliency.”
The redevelopment project spans both Boston and Revere, creating about 7,000 residential units across the Boston portion of the site.
More than 900 of the on-site units will be income-restricted and an additional $5 million housing stabilization fund will support off-site income-restricted housing, bringing the total commitment of affordable housing to 20 percent of the overall units, the BPDA said.
In addition, at least 10 percent of units will be set aside for senior housing.
The commercial portion of the project is also set to contribute $28 million in linkage funding to the Neighborhood Housing Trust to support the creation of affordable housing.
The BPDA predicts that once complete, the project will create between 25,000 and 30,000 new permanent jobs, with construction of the project creating 14,000 jobs.
Ten percent of all retail space will be made available to locally-owned businesses with flexible lease terms, the BPDA added.
More than $170 million will also be invested in new public roadways, sidewalks, bicycle paths, and pedestrian paths, water, sewer, and storm drainage facilities throughout the Suffolk Downs site.
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