Chris Stanley, Assistant Vice President – Design & Construction
“Dorchester is the place to be,” said Mayor Martin J. Walsh as he stood in front of the crowd gathered in July across the street from a bustling construction site. Having lived in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester for almost 15 years, I can assure you that wasn’t always the sentiment some residents and government officials felt about our area of the city. But lately, things are improving and changing, rapidly, in this Boston neighborhood. On July 11, Trinity Financial brought together government officials, community groups, and our neighbors to break ground, open the sales center, and unveil the name of our new building, Treadmark. The newest mixed-income, mixed-use, and transit-oriented development in Dorchester’s Ashmont neighborhood, Treadmark is the second of Trinity’s transit-oriented development projects in the neighborhood following The Carruth, also located on Dorchester Avenue.
Aptly named with a nod to the site’s former use as the home of the Ashmont Tire company, Treadmark will comprise 51 affordable rental units and 32 ownership units. New Treadmark residents won’t be the only ones benefitting from the construction; Ashmont neighbors have some great food to look forward to, too! In addition to the new residential units, Treadmark will also include 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, anchored by specialty food retailer, American Provisions.
The groundbreaking, emceed by our Senior Project Manager Matt Zahler, included a number of notable speakers, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Senator Linda Dorcena Forry, Managing Director of RBC Craig Wagner, President and CEO of Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation Joe Flatley, Senior Vice President of Boston Private Peter Hollands, and Board President of Greater Ashmont Main Street Phillipe Saad. As many of the speakers noted, the project showcases the transformative results that come from a strong public-private partnership and tireless neighborhood support. Treadmark represents the great work that can be done through collaboration by leveraging significant investments from both the city and state to create new housing and business opportunities
And in an effort to not only make housing affordable, but to also make it cool, all 83 units of Treadmark were beautifully designed by HGTV star and Boston-based interior designer Taniya Nayak of Taniya Nayak Design. Taniya herself offered tours of the model-unit which has been installed at the sales center across the street in the Carruth building. Taniya showed off the interior design, including the condo units’ customizable wallpaper and sliding barn doors.
As Boston develops beyond its traditional urban center, revitalizing the heart and soul of Boston- its neighborhoods – is imperative. The ongoing revitalization effort of Ashmont and Peabody Square has been in the works since the late 1990’s, when Trinity, elected officials and neighbors envisioned and collaborated on what we wanted the neighborhood to look like. We imagined these types of restaurants and retailers would build the sense of community participation that led business and new residents to come here. Just ten years ago, Ashmont and Peabody Square were simply a sketchy and trash strewn pass-through to catch the T, and the vibrant diversity of the neighborhood, just beyond the T station, was often overlooked. From a development perspective, we have always sought to maintain that diversity in the square while also bringing in new opportunities for housing and retail tenants. By the time it is completed, Treadmark and its’ sister property, The Carruth, will have added 199 units of housing to the square. As a resident of Dorchester who is proud to raise my three children here, I am thrilled to have seen firsthand the transformation of this thriving community. Of late, I’ve enjoyed the knowing looks among my neighbors when social media announces their discovery of Dorchester. There are always more people and places to discover here.
With Treadmark’s cool interior design, unprecedented number of new, affordable units in this neighborhood, and access to local shops, restaurants and the MBTA, it’s clear that Mayor Walsh got it right- Dorchester is definitely “the place to be.”
Treadmark is currently under construction and expected to open in Fall of 2017. For more information, visit www.livetreadmark.com . For more updates from Trinity Financial, contact us via Twitter and LinkedIn.
