Boston floats plans for housing over Dorchester, Roxbury library branches
The Boston Public Library is considering adding apartments to share space with four neighborhood branches slated for renovation, a rare combination that exists in New York and Chicago but would be the first in the city.
The initiative, being developed in collaboration with the Department of Neighborhood Development, fits with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s drive to build more housing units as a way to moderate rising rents. The branches that could see public library patrons and private tenants in the same building are the West End near downtown, Fields Corner and Uphams Corner in Dorchester, and Egleston in Roxbury, according to one city official.
Taylor Cain, director of the city’s nascent Housing Innovation Lab, confirmed what is known as the Housing with Public Assets Initiative is looking into co-locating housing with branch libraries. She said the Fields Corner branch could become the prototype.
“This is very much still in the phase of testing proof of concept. We are currently doing this process in Fields Corner,” Cain said in an interview with WGBH News. “There’s definitely been conversations about what other library branches we should look to have this conversation at, and we hope that in the new year, we’ll be able to announce the next slate of library projects.”
In Fields Corner, the mixed-use proposal is one of three options for the pending renovation of the small, aging building on Dorchester Avenue. That plan would add a second floor of library space and 36 privately-owned apartments on three floors above that one.
City officials said the idea was inspired by a past proposal from a Dorchester community development group, VietAid, and the similar projects in Chicago and New York.