Mayor Michelle Wu joined the development team from Pennrose, members of the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), MassDevelopment representatives, local elected officials, and community partners to celebrate the groundbreaking for the redevelopment of the historic Blessed Sacrament Church in Jamaica Plain's Hyde Square neighborhood. Built in 1913, Blessed Sacrament has been vacant since 2004. Through this redevelopment, the 71,000-square-foot church will be transformed into a mixed-use, mixed-income community while preserving its historic façade and exterior details.

"Blessed Sacrament Church has long been a symbol of both history and hope for our community," said Mayor Michelle Wu. "The City of Boston is proud to support this redevelopment, which will preserve a cherished historic landmark, create deeply needed affordable housing, and provide a community performance space. This project ensures that the heart of Hyde Square continues to serve as a gathering place for residents for generations to come."

The project will create 55 new homes, ranging from studios to two-bedroom apartments, reserved for residents earning between 30% and 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Six of the apartments will be reserved for individuals exiting homelessness. The redevelopment will also introduce new community amenities, including a multipurpose performance space with a capacity of more than 200 people and a new resident community room located in the historic cupola. Hyde Square Task Force, Pennrose's nonprofit development partner, will use the 6,500-square-foot redeveloped church nave as a multipurpose performance space for Afro-Latin youth and artists and as a cultural hub for Boston's Latin Quarter. The space will host youth arts programs, workshops, after-school programming, community events, rehearsals, and live performances for participants and neighborhood residents.

"The adaptive reuse of Blessed Sacrament Church is a powerful example of preserving community history while meeting today's housing needs," said Juana Matias, Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities. "The transformation of this landmark into 55 new affordable homes saves an important piece of Jamaica Plain history while ensuring that more families have a stable and affordable place to live in the community. The Healey-Driscoll Administration is proud to support this project."

"This project is a huge win for Jamaica Plain that is primarily the result of the Hyde Square Task Force refusing to give up their fight for local affordable housing and to preserve the soul of Boston's Latin Quarter," said City Councilor Ben Weber (District 6).

"After years of conversations and work to get housing built in the old Blessed Sacrament Church, we finally are breaking ground on what will be 55 affordable units in Jamaica Plain," said State Representative Sam Montano. "Hyde Square Task Force is an essential partner in our community and city and for them to be the organization that made this project finally happen is a testament to the power of organizations that are rooted in people and culture. I can't wait to welcome all our new neighbors to the community."

Following the groundbreaking, Mayor Michelle Wu also signed the City's Transfer Fee Home Rule Petition, a proposal to create a new local funding source for affordable housing. Passed by the Boston City Council on April 15, 2026, the petition will now move to the State Legislature for consideration. The proposal would allow Boston to apply a fee of up to 2% on real estate transactions over $2 million, with the first $2 million exempt to limit impacts on middle-class homeowners. Revenue from the fee would support the creation and preservation of affordable housing at a time when federal resources are declining. The petition also increases the City's senior property tax exemption from a minimum of $1,000 to $1,500 and expands eligibility to households earning up to 50% of Area Median Income. The Mayor has advanced similar proposals in 2021 and 2023 and continues to pursue the transfer fee as a tool to help build more affordable housing across Boston.

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"This Home Rule Petition proposes a modest, targeted contribution from sales of high-value real estate to fund urgently needed affordable housing for our City while also expanding tax relief for seniors," said Mayor Michelle Wu. "If this measure had been adopted by the state legislature the first time it was advanced by the City, we would have been able to deploy an additional $160 million to build new housing and create thousands of new homes by now. I'm grateful to sponsor Councilor Henry Santana and Council colleagues for approving this proposal and to State Representative Brandy Fluker-Reid for filing this at the State House as we fight for every tool and resource to create more housing and more affordability in our city."

By creating new local funding for affordable housing, the transfer fee would help advance developments like the Blessed Sacrament redevelopment, bringing new homes and community spaces to Boston neighborhoods.

The Church has long served as more than a place of worship, standing at the center of community life in Jamaica Plain and playing a particularly important role for the neighborhood's Latino community. Often referred to as Boston's "Latin Cathedral," the church became a vital cultural and social hub where generations of residents gathered for worship, celebrations, and community support. This deep connection to the neighborhood was especially evident in 2003 and 2004, when the Archdiocese of Boston announced plans to close the church. In response, parishioners, community leaders, youth, local businesses, and advocacy organizations mobilized to oppose the closure, emphasizing the church's importance to hundreds of families and its role as a cornerstone of Latinx community life.

Following the official closure in 2004, a broad coalition of stakeholders organized to ensure that the future of the Blessed Sacrament campus would reflect community needs and preserve its role as a neighborhood anchor. In 2005, with overwhelming community support, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC) was able to outbid private buyers and acquire the entire campus. The Blessed Sacrament campus stands as a rare and powerful example of community-led activism shaping equitable development and preserving a historic space for affordable housing, cultural expression, and neighborhood cohesion.

The redevelopment of Blessed Sacrament Church builds on a long-standing effort to revitalize the campus while providing housing opportunities and community resources. The Blessed Sacrament Campus has been the site of multiple successful affordable housing projects, including Creighton Commons Housing (2009), Dona Betsaida Gutierrez Cooperative Housing (2010), and the Sister Virginia Mulhern House (2011), which provides housing for formerly homeless individuals.

After many attempts to redevelop the church without success, the Hyde Square Task Force announced that it was selling the property. After soliciting proposals from developers, the Hyde Square Task Force partnered with Penrose to develop income restricted housing and realize the original vision to preserve the church and create a hub for arts, culture, and neighborhood engagement.

The redevelopment was made possible in part by funding from the Mayor's Office of Housing, MassDevelopment, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), the Community Preservation Act (CPA), and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

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"Blessed Sacrament has been a cornerstone of Hyde Square for more than a century, and this redevelopment reflects what is possible when preservation and housing come together with purpose," said Sheila A. Dillon, Chief of Housing. "By creating 55 new homes and investing in this important community space for youth, this project helps ensure that Jamaica Plain and Boston's Latin Quarter is a vibrant home for our families, while supporting Hyde Square Task Force's long-standing work to foster youth leadership, creativity, and cultural expression."

"This redevelopment highlights the potential of restoring and reusing historic landmarks for housing," said Charlie Adams, President of Pennrose. "By combining affordable housing, community space, and historic preservation, we're investing not only in a building, but in the future of Hyde Square and the mission of our partner Hyde Square Task Force."

"Our goal has been to ensure that the Blessed Sacrament redevelopment not only helps alleviate the affordable housing crisis in our neighborhood, but also establishes a creative home for young artists and performers, and a gathering space for the community," said Celina Miranda, Executive Director of HSTF. "We are proud to see this vision move forward to support residents of Boston's Latin Quarter, and reinforce HSTF's role as a center for arts and culture."

"The Blessed Sacrament redevelopment is a prime example of how creative, innovative housing solutions can address multifaceted community goals, including preserving an underutilized historic landmark, investing in cultural facilities, and improving housing accessibility," said Karmen Cheung, regional vice president at Pennrose. "It is an honor to help create much-needed affordable rental housing in a resource-rich, transit-oriented neighborhood."

The Blessed Sacrament Church redevelopment reflects years of planning and advocacy for affordable housing and community facilities in Hyde Square, and supports Mayor Michelle Wu's commitment to making Boston a home for everyone. Under Mayor Wu's leadership, Boston has made historic progress toward creating and preserving homes that residents can afford. Since the start of her first term, the City has produced or begun construction on more than 18,000 new homes, including thousands of income-restricted units, and has launched new policies to make it easier, faster, and less expensive to build housing across every neighborhood. Mayor Wu has directed record levels of investment to prevent displacement, expand affordable homeownership, and support renters and homeowners who face housing instability.

Through innovative programs like the Housing Accelerator Fund, Welcome Home Boston, and the Housing with Public Assets initiative, the City is finding new ways to create housing on public land, convert vacant buildings into homes, and support residents in building wealth and stability. The Mayor's focus on climate and health has also made Boston a national leader in green and energy-efficient housing. Together, these efforts are helping to make Boston a city where every resident can have a safe, stable, and affordable home, and where communities can grow stronger for generations to come.

About the Mayor's Office of Housing

The mission of the Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH) is to foster healthy, vibrant, and welcoming communities for all by ensuring stable, green, accessible housing and sustainable use of land. MOH achieves this by creating and preserving income-restricted housing, supporting residents to buy and maintain their homes, and developing housing policies that promote access and long-term stability. MOH also works to prevent evictions, implements housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness, and works to make Boston's housing stock healthy, resilient, and environmentally sustainable. For more information, please visit the MOH website.

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