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After months of delay, the City of Boston released a report that tested the financial feasibility of different models for a future Jackson Mann last week.

The final report places a price tag behind the different combinations of programming that the city is considering for a future Jackson Mann. 

Specifically, the report considers the possibility of housing development, which would include market-rate housing and affordable housing, along with public facilities, such as a Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) community center and a Boston Public Schools (BPS) pre-K-6 school. 

Want to follow our reporting on the Jackson Mann Community Center? Read some of our past coverage on the community center’s development: The city released the capital budget. Where does Allston’s local community center fit in? Residents react after city official says Jackson Mann will not appear in upcoming capital budget; city later says it will invest 10 million dollars During budget town hall, Councilor Breadon calls on the city to allocate 80 to 100 million dollars for Jackson Mann reconstruction Boston Public Schools will play a key role in determining the future programming of a reconstructed Jackson Mann. Here’s why.

The report identified high demand for both retail space and residential units in Allston-Brighton. The report made several recommendations about the possible structure of the future Jackson Mann. For instance, it stated that housing should not be stacked upon a community center or school, but rather, be placed adjacent to these public facilities. 

The report divides the site into two six-story parcels: one on 500 Cambridge Street and one on 40 Armington Street. It recommends that the BCYF community center be built on the Cambridge Street parcel due to its proximity to Union Square. 

On the other hand, the study states that the BPS school and housing should be situated in Armington Street due to its proximity to Ringer Playground and its distance from Cambridge Street, avoiding congestion during school pick-up and drop-off hours.

In the end, the report evaluated the costs and revenue generated across three options. Across all options, the City of Boston’s Public Facilities department will be responsible for the cost of the BCYF community center and BPS school.

By John Lin with assistance from Claude AI.

The first option includes a three-story BCYF community center without an indoor pool and affordable housing on the Cambridge Street parcel. On the other side, Armington Street parcel will include a pre-K-6 BPS school and housing, the majority of which are market-rate.

In total, the first option will cost a total of 331 million dollars with 102 million dollars going toward housing and retail, 72 million dollars toward a BCYF community center, and 157 million dollars toward a BPS school. 

The second option would build a community indoor pool with the BCYF community center on the Cambridge Street parcel. The report includes three suboptions. Option 2.1 retains all the components of Option 1, including a BPS school, market-rate housing, and affordable housing. However, due to the inclusion of the pool, it will increase the cost of a BCYF community center to 104 million dollars and reduce affordable housing units by almost 40 percent — from 90 units in Option 1 to 55 units.

The other two suboptions would eliminate the BPS school on Armington Street. In its place, the two suboptions will present different amounts of affordable housing: option 2.2 will build 264 units (130 market-rate units and 134 affordable units) while all 239 units in option 2.3 will be affordable. 

The final option, which will generate the highest return on cost (6.5 percent), turns the Cambridge Street parcel into 200 units of housing — 80 percent of which are market-rate — while the Armington Street parcel will include a BCYF community center with a pool and 90 units of affordable housing. 

This is the only option where the BCYF community center is on the Armington Street side. Under this option, the community center will be slightly smaller in area than its Cambridge Street proposed counterparts and cost 84 million dollars, as opposed to 104 million dollars, as listed in the other options.

The feasibility study, which began last summer, was administered by Public Facilities in consultation with private design firm Utile. A BPS spokesperson initially told Allstonia that the study would be released this February, but its release has since been repeatedly delayed.

All estimates for a BCYF community center are in line with the 80 to 100 million dollars that Allston-Brighton City Councilor Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Breadon had initially asked for. Breadon later revised her proposal to 65 million dollars to exclude a community pool, but even a BCYF center without a pool would cost 72 million dollars, according to the report.

After the report’s release, the city will schedule a public meeting to discuss the study.