Reflecting on 2023 in Dorchester Bay City’s Journey – and Looking Ahead to 2024

The past year marked significant strides toward realizing our vision for Dorchester Bay City. The green light from the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) for our master plan marks a pivotal milestone, moving us one step closer to bringing this transformative project to life.

While other milestones like state approvals, building permits, and construction await, we take pride in the progress achieved since our initial unveiling of the DBC vision. Our unwavering commitment to meeting our community's needs remains at the forefront, and the BPDA-approved master plan is a testament to how we’ve incorporated their invaluable input.

Key highlights and benefits to Dorchester Bay City include:

  • Economic Opportunity: The project’s scale ensures unprecedented local resident participation, along with substantial involvement from minority and women partners in investments and inclusive businesses. Also, $18 million will be dedicated to economic development programs, fostering growth and opportunities within the community.

  • Affordable Housing: DBC includes 20% onsite affordable housing at 70% of the Area Median Income (AMI), totaling approximately 391 units. Additionally, it allocates  approximately $53.7 million in housing exaction payments and approximately $10 million in funding for the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance’s (MAHA) STASH Program.

  • Public Realm: The asphalt parking lots that dominate the site today will be transformed into over 15 acres of publicly accessible green spaces. Additionally, 1,000 new trees will be planted to combat the urban heat island effect, creating cool and comfortable public spaces for all.

  • Transportation: With nearly $36.8 million in transportation contributions from the Accordia team to improve the neighborhood’s existing infrastructure, the DBC project will catalyze a number of multi-modal infrastructure projects that have been priority needs in the community for decades.

“There aren’t many legacy projects that tackle such difficult challenges as resiliency and infrastructure and inclusion,” Accordia co-managing partner Kirk Sykes recently told The Boston Globe. “So to be able to do that here feels pretty good.”

Our team's commitment to both industry leadership and community involvement cannot go unnoticed throughout this process. Notable achievements from our team this year include:

  • Kirk Sykes, Co-Managing Partner of Accordia Partners, has been elected President of NAIOP Massachusetts for 2024, collaborating closely with NAIOP staff and Chapter leadership.

  • Dick Galvin, Accordia’s Co-Managing Partner, celebrated a decade of the Commercial Real Estate Success Training (CREST) Program—an initiative he co-founded, supporting underrepresented students of color and women in the commercial real estate industry.

  • Jill Griffin, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Accordia, and a board member of the Builders of Color Coalition, received recognition from NAIOP MA for outstanding contributions to real estate, charitable activities, and community enhancement.

Looking ahead, our team is eagerly dedicated to keeping momentum going for DBC, aiming to propel this project forward and deliver its wide-ranging benefits to the community.