For the Allston-Brighton Housing Action Coalition, affordable housing isn’t just a talking point. To them, it calls for local coffee hours, book-club style library reads and group bike rides.
On Halloween this year, the coalition, with around 60 members, invited the community on a walk around Allston to learn about six upcoming construction projects, starting at 1270 Commonwealth Ave. — which used to be a local CVS — and finishing off on Everett Street near Lower Allston.
“It’s really important to build housing, promote housing, that can be available to everyone in the community,” said 29-year-old Stacey Berry, one of the co-leads of the walk. “Not just luxury, not just what we have now, but really building up different types of housing that can serve this community.”
Berry described how ABHA is able to bring together not only Allston-Brighton residents, but also developers and contractors. These interactions between the community and the individuals directly involved with building housing are vital to understanding the need for multi-use housing and zoning practices.
“I would love to see more of that in my community,” Berry said. “I feel like being a part of ABHA helps me promote that and keep that close to the heart.”
Since forming two years ago, the coalition has hosted different gatherings to try and unite neighbors and let them know about the group’s mission. In addition to affordable housing, they’re also working toward zoning reform, mobility and sustainability, and supporting arts and culture in the area, according to their website.
“This was a group of people who felt more positive about housing development, and so we wanted to support more housing in the neighborhood as a way to sort of recognize that there’s a shortage of housing in the city, in the state, in the country,” said 68-year-old Barbara Parmenter, one of people who helped launch the coalition. “The main reason was to get people active and understanding, and also to support each other.”
Cullen Deimer, a 31-year-old Lower Allston resident, explained how he initially reached out to Abundant Housing Massachusetts to inquire about a housing advocacy group that was specific to Allston-Brighton.
“They sent along email addresses for Andy and for Barbara, and I was able to reach out and got to join one of their very early Google Meet calls where we were kind of discussing what the group should look like and what our goals were,” Deimer said.
During the walk, Berry and her co-lead, Ash Ahrenhoerster, took turns providing descriptions at each of the six stops. These descriptions included building details such as framing and podiums, parking lot designs, file and approval dates, and the names of the developers and general contractors for each site.
For Berry and Ahrenhoerster, who had both been a part of the coalition for a while, this event was a learning experience in itself and a way to get more involved in ABHA.
“The initial goal for me was to learn more about the construction that’s going on in the neighborhood and also the process of housing being built,” Ahrenhoerster said. “It’s really easy to take for granted a lot of the work that goes into housing.”
At the start of the walk, a paper guide was passed around with details of each construction stop so that attendees could follow along. Swipe through to find those details of each stop.
Stop 1: 1270 Commonwealth Avenue (“Arborline”) – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 206 units, 70 ground level parking spaces (.34 ratio). – Developer is Hines, along with Benenson Capital Partners, GC is Tocci – Project was filed 2022, approved in 2023 – Mostly finished excavation, currently working on footings/foundation and first-floor columns 
Stop 1: 1270 Commonwealth Avenue (“Arborline”) – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 206 units, 70 ground level parking spaces (.34 ratio). – Developer is Hines, along with Benenson Capital Partners, GC is Tocci – Project was filed 2022, approved in 2023 – Mostly finished excavation, currently working on footings/foundation and first-floor columns 
Stop 2: 25-30 Harvard Avenue (“The Ivy”, formerly “Allston Post”) – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 170 units, 58 ground level parking spaces (.34 ratio) – Developer is Eden Properties (Noah Maslan and Mike Samuels), GC is Cranshaw – Project was filed and approved in 2023; target completion in June 2027 – Framing is complete, windows almost in, moisture barrier being applied. Will add street trees – Filling the former site of the post office 
Stop 2: 25-30 Harvard Avenue (“The Ivy”, formerly “Allston Post”) – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 170 units, 58 ground level parking spaces (.34 ratio) – Developer is Eden Properties (Noah Maslan and Mike Samuels), GC is Cranshaw – Project was filed and approved in 2023; target completion in June 2027 – Framing is complete, windows almost in, moisture barrier being applied. Will add street trees – Filling the former site of the post office 
Stop 3: 6 Pratt St (Allston Green Building C) -4 stories of wood-frame construction, 68 units, no parking – Developer is LBC, General Contractor is Reycon – Project was filed 2019, approved in 2020 – Currently finishing framing; part of a 3-building project 
Stop 4: 120 Braintree St (“Riva Residences”) – 4 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 32 condo units, 31 ground level parking with stackers (.97 ratio) – Developer is Zanzibar Capital, GC is Drack. Originally filed by the owner of the cab company that operated on the site – Filed 2021, approved in 2021, reapproved in 2025 with change in owner and parking design – Finished podium and working on frame 
Stop 5: 95 Everett St – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 2-story cast-in-place concrete podium, 88 income-restricted units, no parking – Developer is Pennrose, GC is Delbrook. Part of 119 Braintree St redevelopment – First approved in 2020, approved in 2023; target completion in Summer 2027 – Done with framing, currently wrapping moisture barrier and installed light gauge steel studs in the duplexes 
Stop 6: 250 Everett St (“Modera Allston”) – 5 stories of wood-frame construction over 1-story steel podium, 240 units, 117 underground parking spaces (.49 ratio) – Developer and GC is Mill Creek – Filed in 2024, approved in 2025 – Foundation concrete poured, parts of ground floor (ceiling of basement) poured, working on columns and utilities
In the end, for the Allston-Brighton Housing Action Coalition, the goal is to bring in more residents and increase engagement through unique neighborly experiences. According to Deimer, they are still awaiting updates on the city’s Allston-Brighton Community Plan, which they were told would come out earlier this year.
“We formed around advocating for things in that plan over two years ago at this point, and we still haven’t even seen any sort of draft zoning maps of what the plan is going to look like,” Deimer said. “We’re kind of past a point of waiting politely, and I think we want to start pushing.
“Show us what you have, and then if we have to have further discussions about what the plan will look like past that, we can have those discussions now.”
This story is part of a partnership between Allstonia and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.
