Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Planning is underway for a new mixed-use development on 290 North Beacon Street where artist spaces will meet affordable housing. 

The City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture (MOAC) and Boston Housing Authority are collaborating on the project and held a public meeting on April 16, where the development team proposed a minimum of 40,000 square feet of recording and rehearsal spaces at an affordable rate, along with 60 to 150 affordable residential apartments, and 30,000 square feet of additional arts and cultural spaces. The proposed development is near Faneuil Gardens, where redevelopment projects are also underway. 

MOAC is consulting with artists as they decide how best to move forward to create a space that is open and accessible to the public.

“To get this project to be a reality is one of its kind, so we feel very lucky and privileged to be working on this,” said David Valecillos, a senior development manager with the Community Builders, Inc., which is a non-profit housing developer.

“We understand that tension of displacement of artist spaces is something that is going on around the city, and there is a true need for spaces like the ones that we’re planning.” 

Lizzie Torres, an Allston-Brighton resident and co-founder of the Boston Artist Impact, that helps artists learn about the development process and informs elected officials on how to engage with artists, says this project tackles the challenges that Boston artists face, both affordable housing and a need for artistic spaces.

“We do love the affordable housing aspect of it. A huge hindrance to artists is cost of living, so they need the affordable housing just as much as anyone else in the city does,” said Torres.

“We’re hoping this will actually be a really symbiotic project for our neighborhood that’s in desperate need of both affordable housing and artist space.”

The 290 North Beacon development aims to make up for the lost rehearsal space at 155 North Beacon St., the previous location of the Sound Museum Rehearsal Complex. 

In 2021, the Californian-based real estate development company IQHQ acquired the space for the development of a new life science department. According to a WBUR article, in return, IQHQ offered to help the Sound Museum owners find a space for a new studio but later gave 290 North Beacon to the city for the creation of a new rehearsal space. The rehearsal studio, the Record Co. in Dorchester, was provided as a temporary space for displaced tenants during the demolition of Sound Museum.

For the past 40 years, Katherine and William Desmond have owned Sound Museum, providing 24-hour access to affordable rehearsal spaces for local musicians. They previously built nine different rehearsal facilities throughout the greater Boston area, but they have one facility left on 33 Hitchborn Street in Brighton. 

“I still have people reaching out to me all the time, looking for places to practice, and I can’t accommodate them, so this is still very much needed,” Katherine Desmond said.

Desmond, who is currently not involved in the development process of the new rehearsal studio, hopes to be a part of the project in the future. 

“I’d like to be involved more,” said Desmond. “I think I have a lot to offer because of my experience.”

Prophet Parker-McWhorter, a music artist and former tenant of Sound Museum, said the juxtaposition between affordable housing and rehearsal space could raise concerns about noise. 

“That is a definite concern,” McWhorter said. “I’m in a band that we make a lot of noise, and part of the issue that they did talk about, but part of the issue is that there are no real 24-hour spaces left after they closed the Sound Museum.”

“I’m currently at Studio 52 […], and we have until 3:00 A.M. with our key card access, and music and arts are a 24-hour thing.” 

On the flip side, he also worries that the proposed construction sequence, which will build the rehearsal space first and the housing next, could mean that artists in the new rehearsal space will need to contend with increased traffic from the construction of the affordable housing.

McWhorter, who was a part of the temporary transition to Record Co., says there needs to be more public input on how the new space will be operated for artists, adding the importance of artist interaction within this project.

“Making sure that whoever’s the steward and manager is representative of all artists and not just people that they know and have an allegiance to,” McWhorter said. 

The 290 North Beacon development plan is still in its early stages of planning and designing. In the next stage, the development team will embark on a listening tour across existing spaces in Boston to understand artists’ needs.

This story is part of a partnership between the Allstonia and the Boston University Department of Journalism.