Nuestra's Real Estate Development department acquires and develops properties throughout Roxbury and North Dorchester, transforming degraded and vacant lots and buildings into quality affordable housing and commercial space. Since Nuestra's inception in 1981, our real estate team has established a strong record of affordable housing development within Boston, and has produced or preserved over 700 affordable rental apartments, 132 units of affordable homeownership housing, and over 60,000 square feet of commercial space in Boston's neighborhoods. Nuestra's experienced team of real estate project managers and asset management specialists collaborates with a wide range of designers, contractors, government agencies, neighborhood organizations, and funders throughout the development process, creating properties that are attractive, affordable, environmentally sustainable, and in harmony with the communities around them.
Planning and Design
Our development strategy revolves around a comprehensive community design and planning process. For each project site, we develop a method to engage residents, drawing on variety of community planning tools and best practices developed over our prior projects and through Nuestra's participation in the Enterprise Community Partners Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute. A key first step is deciding on a program based on community input – uses, economic goals, community health goals, etc. Residents work through the opportunities, challenges and tradeoffs presented by the physical configuration of the site, its history and context, along with issues of density, sustainability, income mix, open space, traffic, parking, etc. We partner with architects, sustainability specialists, and retail brokers early in the development process to help translate the results of the community design process into workable, high-quality designs and project plans. Finally, we work with residents to advocate for the resources needed to achieve the community's design and development objectives.
Our Results
Nuestra's real estate accomplishments include:
- Over 30 affordable housing developments totaling over 800 units of housing, ranging from restored single-family homes to newly built multifamily apartment buildings
- Over 60,000 square feet of commercial space distributed across standalone and mixed-use buildings, including three historic properties in the Dudley Square commercial district
- An active pipeline of projects in progress, including the landmark Bartlett Place mixed-use development
Map of Nuestra Properties
Coming Soon!
Nuestra's properties include housing developments (blue), commercial buildings (yellow), and mixed-use developments (green). Projects under development are marked in red. Double click in the map to zoom in; click and drag to move around.
