Photo: Jared Brosnan/WBZ NewsRadio
QUINCY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch unveiled Tuesday the city's plan to turn some buildings in the Crown Colony business district into 55+ senior housing.
The office spaces were cleared out during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they haven't been used since.
“Ever since COVID, as we know, the work habits have changed, I don’t see that coming back,” the mayor said. “Communities across Greater Boston are facing a fundamental shift in how commercial office space is being used, and Quincy is choosing to lead rather than react.”
The vacant space will be turned into 315 units of 55+ housing, something the mayor hopes will free up housing for younger families.
President of Atlantic Development DJ MacKinnon explained that the tax benefits that would come from these new units would make them quite lucrative.
“[The housing] will generate about $2.5 million to the city in real estate taxes...so more then double what it was when it was a thriving office building,” he said.
MacKinnon said that the plan is to get approval as soon as possible, with plans to start construction later this summer.
“The plan would be to build the clubhouse and one residential building," MacKinnon said. "We’d start right away."
As of now, the hope is that the first residents will be able to move in early 2028.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Jared Brosnan (@JaredBrosnanWBZ) reports.