Could affordable housing be the key to building a city-owned arts complex in Allston?
The city of Boston seems to think so. At a public meeting conducted over Zoom on Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) and the Boston Housing Authority announced their intention to fold affordable housing into an existing plan to build a music rehearsal complex at 290 North Beacon Street. A public process is now underway to create a request for development proposals.
The announcement that housing would almost certainly be part of the planned development came as a surprise to meeting attendees, many of whom were musicians with a vested interest in the property. The 47,664 square foot parcel was acquired with the understanding that it would be used to build practice space for local musicians. The land is being donated by developer IQHQ, essentially as recompense for booting hundreds of musicians from their rehearsal spaces at the Sound Museum, a 40,000 square foot rehearsal complex in Allston. The business shuttered in early 2023 after IQHQ announced plans to build a life science campus in its place.
The addition of public housing to the plan gave some meeting attendees pause.
“I’m concerned with the possibility that the intended [square footage] of arts and culture space will be given to city-owned housing instead,” wrote one former Sound Museum tenant, Chelsea Ellsworth, in the meeting chat.
In response, city officials repeatedly pledged to deliver 40,000 square feet of rehearsal space, citing a stipulation in the agreement between the city and IQHQ that “permanent affordable studio rehearsal space” be built on the site.
“Our commitment is, first and foremost, to replacing that square footage for music rehearsal specifically,” said the city’s Chief of Arts and Culture, Kara Elliott-Ortega.
MOAC staff made clear they believed the involvement of the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) was necessary for the plan to proceed. “The partnership with BHA is what’s going to allow us to move this forward and with a clear path,” Elliott-Ortega said. Mayor Wu has made the creation of more affordable housing a core priority of her administration.
The city plans to retain ownership of the development, rather than enter into a land lease with an owner-developer. MOAC staff said this will give the city more control over what gets built and how it’s used. City staffers also underscored the economic benefits to the collaboration with the BHA, which would open up access to federal housing subsidies that, in turn, could help keep studio rental prices low.
Representatives from the BHA also championed the plan. The property next to 290 North Beacon Street is the home of a state public housing development called Faneuil Gardens, which is in the midst of a multi-year redevelopment process. The two plots are currently separated by a fence. BHA staff expressed excitement at the possibility of designing more physical flow between the two parcels, and even building community arts space for public use.
“For us, the idea of development of an arts resource adjacent to Faneuil Gardens that can be a resource both for the whole community, but also speak to and interact with our residents, is just really exciting,” said Kenzie Bok, the administrator for the BHA.
Many musicians on the call brought up the practical complications of building practice space alongside residential buildings. Sound mitigation would be of paramount concern, along with the issue of musicians loading in and out of the space at all hours of the night – if, indeed, the practice spaces would be accessible 24/7, something many felt would be necessary for the building to fulfill its intended use.
Others expressed dismay that the plan did not involve the owners of the Sound Museum, Bill and Katherine Desmond. The business has operated – and been displaced from – various arts and rehearsal spaces throughout Greater Boston over the years.
“This whole crisis in many ways was initiated by the loss of the Sound Museum space,” said Scott Matalon, president of Allston Village Main Streets and a former Sound Museum tenant. “So I’m just curious, during this entire process, why they seem to be conspicuously absent from all of these plans and discussions.”
Some attendees were more optimistic about the city’s plan. “These spaces will be music rehearsal spaces for a very, very long time, and for that I am grateful,” said Ethan Dussault, a member of the arts advocacy group #ArtStaysHere, which had pushed for the city to secure space in Allston for displaced Sound Museum tenants. “I would just want to encourage everyone to really aim high here in terms of what the potential is for this space.”
Much has to happen before anything is built, including securing financing. MOAC has reserved $2 million in federal COVID relief funds to put toward the project, and the city is still working out how much more money it needs to raise.
The city is now in the final stages of acquiring the land from IQHQ. Tuesday’s meeting was the first of many public meetings it plans to hold to solicit input as it develops a request for proposals. That will be followed by an application period, and then a selection process to choose a developer for the site. The city will need to initiate another public process to select an operator for the rehearsal space once it’s built. The next public meeting has not yet been scheduled.
City staffers declined to estimate how long the entire process might take. But it was not lost on anyone that the clock was ticking. A temporary practice space in Dorchester, brokered by MOAC on behalf of displaced musicians, will eventually close down to make way for a planned development. The possibility was raised of building the new rehearsal studios first, before any housing, so they could open sooner.
“This is … the only time in history to have this property opportunity for arts/music,” Ami Bennett, an advocate with #ArtStaysHere, wrote in the chat. “We have to get it right.”
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