Set in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, Mosaic on the Riverway offers mixed-income and mixed-tenure housing with 42 market rate condominiums, 43 affordable condominiums, and 60 affordable rental apartments. The ground floor is occupied by a 9,000 SF early childhood education center serving families of all income backgrounds. Mosaic’s design allows for a site that is nearly 67% open space with two playgrounds, and the Riverway (part of Olmsted’s Emerald Neckalce) is located across the street.

The project is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (RTH), a tenant controlled non-profit formed in 1967 that owns 1,100 units of affordable housing in Mission Hill, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a neighbor to RTH and one of the world’s leading hospitals.

The Mission Hill neighborhood is located approximately three miles from Boston’s downtown business district. The population of approximately 18,700 people is racially and economically diverse. The median household family income of $27,371 is far below HUD’s area median income for the Boston metropolitan area and 36% of the households have annual incomes below the poverty level.

While most of the neighborhood’s buildings are residential, the Longwood Medical and Academic Area (LMA) is comprised of 21 institutions and organizations focusing on health care, research, education and cultural activities. These institutions are responsible for the largest concentration of jobs in the City of Boston outside of downtown Boston and the Seaport District, employing approximately 37,000 people, with more than 52,000 people working or studying in the LMA on a typical weekday.

Additionally, with over 50,000 medical professionals and their patients streaming to the Longwood Medical Area of Mission Hill each day, the needs for childcare for this workforce, and across the income spectrum, is tremendous. Rather than leasing out the ground floor space to the highest day care bidder, RTH is collaborating with the YMCA to provide high quality early education to 90 neighborhood children from diverse family and income backgrounds. This child care program will also provide much needed jobs for RTH residents.

This project embodies the spirit and policy that Mayor Marty Walsh put forth upon his election, to build for all of Boston — from formerly homeless families to doctors looking to live near work, Mosaic provides housing for all of Boston’s residents.

Location: Boston, MA
Developer: Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Inc.
Owner: Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Inc.
Partners: Brigham and Women’s Hospital; DCAMM; Bank of America; Munkenbeck Consulting; Traggorth Companies; Stantec; Mintz Levin; Consigli Construction; Boston Realty Advisors