New England’s first LGBTQ-friendly housing facility for seniors gets green light

In 1902 The William Barton Rogers school in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood opened its doors to admit students. Initially a high school that later had boarding space for students, it was most recently a middle school before closing its doors in 2015. This August the Boston Planning and Development Agency approved plans to convert this building into a 74-unit LGBTQ-friendly apartment building for seniors (62+ years old) and earlier this week the Zoning Board of Appeal gave their approval.

The developer plans to preserve the entirety of the school and the architecturally significant interior and exterior elements, including the gymnasium and auditorium as well as a few classrooms that will be repurposed for community use. The developer is planning to create 27 studios, 39 one-bedroom apartments and 9 two-bedroom apartments. with 50 of the units to be rented to people making no more than 60% of the the Boston area-median income.

This development will be the first building in New England designed for LGBTQ seniors, but I do hope it is not the last and am curious to follow the progress of this development. There was no word on a completion date.