Hebrew SeniorLife has begun a redevelopment of our Center Communities of Brookline campus on Centre Street in Brookline, MA. The project will include:
- Redevelopment of the 108 Centre Street site into 54 affordable senior independent living apartments. This plan includes expanded indoor and outdoor community space, both of which will offer Center Communities of Brookline residents and the Town’s other senior residents significant benefits.
- Enhancements to the overall campus, including landscaping, lighting, and green space.
- The new building will be built to Passive House Standards, which is one of the world's most proven, voluntary approaches to energy reduction, assured indoor air quality, durability and thermal comfort.
We are pursuing a “friendly” 40B to allow the proposed development and in January 2022 received town approval. Hebrew SeniorLife's proposal is friendly for the following reasons, which make it very different than many 40Bs in the area:
- the project will be 100% affordable
- the project will be 100% for seniors
- We will engage with neighbors throughout the process as necessary, and will always answer questions and endeavor to address concerns as we go through the iterative design process with the town.
Similar to the 2Life project at 370 Harvard Street, which was deemed a “friendly” 40B, Hebrew SeniorLife is also a non-profit mission-driven organization with strong ties to Brookline and will work with the town to provide much needed affordable senior housing. We appreciate the support we've received from various town departments throughout the approval process, including the Housing Advisory Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Brookline Historical Commission and many other town boards, committees, and individuals.
We welcome the opportunity to explore the expansion of our program and service offerings with the town and our residents, neighbors, and others. As we move forward, collaborative planning, shared information, and an inclusive atmosphere of trust and respect are of paramount importance.
Project Updates
The application for funding has been submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development for review. We await their decision sometime over the summer.
While we continue to wait for a decision on funding from the Department of Community Housing and Development we are actively working on moving items of the project forward. Our application for a Passive House Status has been submitted and is under review. Passive Houses require very little energy to achieve a comfortable temperature year-round while protecting the building structure. In conjunction with all our partners we are continuing to move internal design elements forward so we are ready to hit the ground running when our funding request is approved.
We are so pleased to announce that we have been awarded state and federal resources from the Department of Housing and Community Development for our 108 Centre Street project. In addition to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and private donors, we are incredibly grateful to be receiving funding and support from the Town of Brookline. We are currently in the process of interviewing general contractors.
We are excited to announce that after a rigorous interview process we have selected NEI as our General Contractor. NEI has an extensive history of working on affordable senior housing and with tight spaces. We were highly impressed with their approach to working with the Town and neighbors to keep open lines of communication with the goal of preventing issues before they happen. NEI is currently finishing up a project at 808 Memorial Drive, which was a very large occupied renovation on one of the busiest street corners in Cambridge. The owner could not speak any more highly on their work and communication. We are in the process of finalizing the financing and expect construction to start in February or March 2023. We will keep everyone updated as we refine the timeline.
As we enter the new year, we are excited to announce that our project has been pre-certified as meeting the standards for Passive House. Passive House is a performance-based building certification that focuses on the dramatic reduction of energy use for space heating and cooling. Passive House projects use 60% less energy overall.
We have also started some of the final due diligence work on the existing structure. All utilities have been disconnected, oil tanks have been removed by an environmental company, and a company has completed an architectural salvage of various building elements. We expect construction to start in March.
Learn more about our concept for development:
Current Centre Street Development Information
Center Communities of Brookline Fact Sheet
Center Communities of Brookline - A Day in the Life
We'd Like to Hear from You
To share any input, ideas, concerns, or questions you may have, you may leave a voicemail at 617-363-8392 and your call will be returned as soon as possible. You may also contact us via email and/or be added to our mailing list to receive updates and invitations. Please send the following information to CCBCentreStreetCampus@hsl.harvard.edu:
- Full name
- Email address
- Street number, city, zip
- Phone number
