RODE, Pine Street Inn, and The Community Builders are proud to unveil The Lyndia - Boston's largest supportive housing community.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, state and city officials, and other public and private partners celebrated the building’s opening with tenants and community members. The building, located at 3368 Washington St., is named in honor of Lyndia Downie, who has dedicated her entire 40-year career to ending homelessness, including the last 25 years as president and executive director of Pine Street.

The design presents a dynamic, stepped facade onto Washington Street in Jamaica Plain, and delivers over 200 units of supportive and affordable housing. Given the opportunity to instill transformative change in the communities that need it the most, it was of utmost importance that the design create a sense of home and place for the residents, with market rate finishes, amenities and thoughtfulness.

This story ran in the Boston Globe on March 13th, 2019

RODE Architects is excited to announce our partnership with The Community Builders (TCB), a leading nonprofit developer of mixed-income housing, and the Pine Street Inn (PSI), New England’s largest homeless services agency, to build a mixed-use building at 3368 Washington Street, Jamaica Plain, the most significant project of its kind in Boston to date.

The new building will replace the existing PSI warehouse/office building and proposes to create 225 income-restricted apartment homes, 140 of which would be housing units with support services for men and women moving out of homelessness. RODE's design includes an estimated 18,000 square feet of PSI office space on the ground floor and community space and amenities for residents. In addition, the plan offers approximately 60 vehicle parking spaces, 85 bicycle storage spaces, and 13,400 square feet of outdoor space.

RODE co-founder Eric Robinson commented, “Far too often architecture is perceived as an unapproachable luxury. RODE is on a mission to change this perception - we believe that good design improves quality of life and enhances the daily experience no matter the budget or the income level of its residents. For this reason we’re excited to partner with Pine Street Inn and The Community Builders on this important initiative. Working within our neighborhoods gives us the opportunity and responsibility to work in collaboration with abutters, community civic groups and stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of creating buildings that are good civic neighbors and enhance the overall quality of the community.”

The development team is currently meeting with neighborhood associations, community leaders and city and state officials to share details of the proposed project and engage them in the community process. Additional public meetings will be announced after the project is formally filed with the City of Boston.  

“This project represents a major step forward in our efforts to solve homelessness in Boston,” said Pine Street President Lyndia Downie. “The number of units in this building will allow us to scale up our housing to a new level, bringing us close to 1,000 units of supportive housing throughout Boston and in Brookline. With the average age of our tenants at 55, this will provide a safe, secure community as they grow older,” she added.

"Our goal in Boston is simple: end chronic homelessness throughout our city,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. “This proposal has the potential to get us even further to that goal, and Pine Street's expertise and history of success in supportive housing means that these facilities would create opportunity for so many who need a helping hand. We're looking forward to this project and its possibilities as we work together to make sure every Bostonian has a safe, supportive home."  

“TCB is a responsible neighbor that’s committed to Jamaica Plain,” said neighborhood resident and TCB Regional Vice President of Development in New England, Andy Waxman.

“We are honored to work with Pine Street Inn to develop this level of permanent supportive housing. In addition to serving formerly homeless individuals, this building will also create a place where people who work in Boston as teachers, firefighters and hairdressers struggle to find apartments they can afford. This development helps ensure more people who help our city run can afford to live here too.”

TCB is a nonprofit organization founded in Boston over 50 years ago. Today, TCB works in 30 cities and is on track to provide rental homes for more than 800 families of all incomes in Jamaica Plain in the coming years.

PSI owns or operates 40 residences throughout Boston and Brookline with over 850 tenants, and has been part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood for nearly 30 years. Currently, PSI manages 115 units in the neighborhood.

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Isabella is RODE’s high school intern, part of our long time partnership with Cristo Rey High School in Dorchester. The intern program is designed to give students access to and understanding of a wide range of career options.

There are a lot of things high schoolers don’t know about. When I came to RODE as a high school intern back in October, I was excited—but nervous, since I knew absolutely nothing about architecture. But I’ve always known I had an interest. During my time here, I’ve taken on many tasks, and embarked on many journeys, one of my favorites being visiting the Pine Street Inn construction site. I could never have guessed how much fun you could have at a construction site—classrooms can only teach so much!

Site Visit 1

My first site visit was in early December. I went with Eric [Robinson] and Nick [Ruggeri], and they were helpful to me the entire time. There was so much to take in. I remember the first thing I did was stare at the exterior. It was mostly finished in the front, but the sides and back were still under construction.

Eric showed me to the garage, which was also still in progress at this point. We walked up and down a lot of stairs as we traveled around the site, eventually reaching the lobby. Looking around the lobby, it looked like it was barely begun. The walls weren’t even built yet, but you could sort of figure out how the design was going to look. There was a lot of construction dust on the floor and many workers were focused in front of the building.

We headed down the hall and reached a room that Eric told me was going to be a kitchen. I honestly couldn’t picture it at this early stage, but it was a pretty big space that would host room for a lot of residents.

We walked up the stairs, and Eric told me that the first floor would be used for assisting formerly homeless in retaining housing.

As we advanced up the stairs, we saw larger units meant for multiple residents. These units were not far along yet—most every room I peeked into was just a bare room with maybe a plastic sheet on the floor.

We went up to the roof, which I noticed was slightly angled. Eric told me it was so all the rainfall can go straight into the drains ingrained into the roof so the water doesn’t have to sit at the top of the building.

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One thing I love is the garden they’re going to make available to the residents. People who live there can admire the plants while relaxing or taking a walk around in case they want to get fresh air.

I wasn't sure how far along the construction was, but at the time I went, my guess was about 40-50% complete.

Pine Street Inn is a huge project and has been underway for years, but one or two site visits can’t really fully comprehend the amount of effort that has been put into this building. I love how everyone works together as a team, no matter what their role is.

Site Visit 2

Here’s where you start to see the project. After wanting to for so long, I was finally able to go back to the Pine Street Inn on Valentine’s Day—2 months after my last visit. From the outside, there weren't any big, noticeable changes—just more noise. It was also very cold that day, so we headed inside quickly!

Nick, Eric, and I met with Rashmi [Ramaswamy] again; she has been doing a great job at leading the project. The lobby was still mostly as I remembered it, with small changes. Eric told me it’s because the plan was to work from the top down to the bottom, which makes sense to me.

I was curious about the garage, but we didn’t go inside this time. It looked nearly the same, just more developed since it was finally completed.

Something that surprised me was the progress in the first floor units. I walked around in amazement, looking at the countertops, microwaves, and cabinets. Some of these rooms were almost finished!

As a high school student with an affinity for architectural concepts, I really took note this time of how everything was structured. On both of my visits, I drew out things I found interesting in my notebook, and I took photos as well on my second visit. I took a picture of the roof (unfortunately we couldn’t go out this time) and the amenities inside each unit.

We spent a little more time outside, and I was mesmerized by the workers building a staircase on top of some large rocks. I took more notes about things I found interesting. The scenes were fascinating to me and I couldn’t help but admire the fact that this project alone would help so many people who were in need, and so many people would be able to appreciate the work everyone involved has put into this building.

Another thing I love is how the people involved not only had those in need in mind, but also the residents surrounding the Jamaica Plain area. The original plan was to have an additional level, but comments from the residents reduced the scale. I think it’s great to have a project that can not only help new inhabitants, but also the ones who already live around there.

Overall, my experience has been exciting and my curiosity has been tested to the limit. I love exploring new places, so this project was a great opportunity for me to see how things work around a construction site.

Pine Street Inn’s goal of helping people in need acquire a permanent home and community inspires me to help those around me, as well. And who knows, maybe someday I’ll be able to help out on such a huge project like this!

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