Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center breaks ground on a building that would double its clinical space
The three-story building on Old Road, near Franklin Park, has been in the works for 12 years. A second phase would add more than 100 affordable apartments on Blue Hill Avenue. A council hearing on health gaps by race is waiting.
Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center broke ground Thursday on a new three-story building on Old Road in Dorchester, near Franklin Park, the Dorchester Reporter reported. The building will be about 49,000 square feet. Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months, and the builder, Commodore Construction, has started early work, including closing part of Old Road.
For patients, the main change is capacity. City Councilor Brian Worrell, who lives nearby and spoke at the ceremony, told the Reporter that the building "doubles their clinical space and allows them to serve thousands more patients each year." The health center now operates on Blue Hill Avenue, across from the Franklin Park Zoo.
Advertisement
The project has been in development for about 12 years, the Reporter said. A planned second phase would combine other health center functions with more than 100 affordable apartments on the center's Blue Hill Avenue properties.
How it is being paid for
According to the Reporter, the financing includes:
- New Markets Tax Credits arranged through The Community Builders;
- MassDevelopment, the state's finance agency, as a financing partner;
- about $20 million in tax-exempt bonds bought by South Shore Bank;
- a capital campaign with gifts from organizations, including Boston Medical Center.
The article does not give a total cost, and it does not mention city money.
Advertisement
What our records show
No council vote on city money. We searched the council's records back to 2025 for the health center and found no order to put city money into the building. Council action could come later. The housing phase would need city zoning and planning review, and affordable housing projects often seek city housing funds, which can include Community Preservation money the council votes on.
A hearing on health gaps. On Sept. 23, the council referred City Councilor Ed Flynn's order for a hearing on health disparities in Boston's communities of color to the Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery (docket 1803). It has 11 sponsors, including Worrell and City Councilor Miniard Culpepper, and has waited 38 days without a hearing. Introducing it, Culpepper cited the Boston Public Health Commission's 2026 Closing the Gap report: the life expectancy gap between Black Bostonians and other residents doubled from 3.3 years to 6.6 years between 2022 and 2024 (watch at 2:23:07).
Worrell said that day that residents should be able to "get a doctor's appointment without losing hours" and that he had been working with health centers in his district to expand services (watch at 2:24:40).
Advertisement
They know our families and hear directly from residents about what they need.
Recognition. In August, the council adopted City Councilor Erin Murphy's resolution recognizing National Health Center Week and Boston's community health centers (docket 1556).
What's next
With an 18- to 24-month schedule, construction would run into 2028. The council's hearing on health disparities stays in committee until the chair sets a date. When it does, community health centers are among the groups a hearing like this usually invites.