Public-Private Partners Bag Loan for Bunker Hill Project

A project in Boston’s Bunker Hill snagged financing as it closes in on an accelerated construction timeline.

A development duo of Leggat McCall Properties, Joseph J. Corcoran Company and the City of Boston secured $172 million for the next phase of the larger Bunker Hill redevelopment in Charlestown, the Commercial Observer reported. Cottonwood Group provided $122 million in construction financing, while Boston’s Housing Accelerator Fund contributed $50 million in equity.

Building F of the Bunker Hill project at 55 Bunker Hill Street will stand nine stories tall and include 266 units of mixed-income housing. The interior and exterior wall systems are expected to be prefabricated, which could accelerate the construction timeline to 18 months.

“Our endeavor to apply construction innovation and leading-edge carbon-reduction strategies to building these healthy, vibrant communities in Boston’s most historic neighborhood is becoming a reality,” Leggat McCall senior vice president Adelaide Gray said in a statement.

One phase of the broader redevelopment is already complete. The developers in January 2025 delivered Stellata, a six-story building with 102 units.

Over the next decade, the entire Bunker Hill redevelopment is expected to deliver approximately 2,700 mixed-income housing units.

The site’s history dates back to 1940, when the 27-acre development opened as the largest public housing project in all of New England. In the decades since, however, much of the property has fallen into disrepair, leading Leggat McCall and Joseph J. Corcoran to agree to redevelop the complex in 2018, in partnership with the Boston Housing Authority and the Charlestown Resident Alliance, a local tenant organization.

The total development is expected to include seven acres of open space, 15 buildings (which will all be certified as Passive Housing), more than 1,000 affordable housing units, a 14,000-square-foot community center and approximately 50,000 square feet of retail space.

— Holden Walter-Warner