A local developer focused on affordable housing and helping people avoid displacement from their longtime communities is building 30 condos on formerly vacant lots in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood.
The three buildings that make up Blume on the Ave, DVM Housing Partners’ project on Blue Hill Avenue, are rising with help from Boston’s city government, which previously owned the land. In a statement, city leaders said they transferred the property to DVM through a competitive process in 2022. The new homes will provide opportunities for first-time buyers, families and longtime Mattapan residents.
“We want these new homes and businesses to reflect the culture and future of Mattapan,” DVM’s founder and principal Dariela Villón-Maga said in the statement. “This development is rooted in the belief that affordable homeownership is key to ensuring that longtime residents can remain in their community and thrive.”
The buildings are slated to have a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom condominiums. The developer has plans to lease space on the ground floors to a beauty salon, a wellness business and an arts organization. Each of these businesses is Black- and women-owned, according to the statement; locals helped choose them as tenants through a community-driven process, according to the statement.
Mattapan’s population was 75% Black in 2010 and dipped slightly to 69% by the start of 2025, according to City of Boston data. The Black population of Boston was 22% in 2010 and 18% as of this year.
Franklin Field South, the section of Mattapan where the condos will be, has a median single-family home sale price of $621,500, according to Homes.com data. Half the housing in the area was built before 1925.
City officials and the DVM could not be immediately reached to clarify the necessary income levels for people to qualify for the Blume condos. At another homeownership project DVM is building in the nearby, more affluent Jamaica Plain neighborhood, the 45 units are limited to people with incomes no more than 80% to 100% of the area median, or $117,520 to $146,900 for a household of three.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has made increasing the affordable housing stock an important part of her work, the statement said, including conducting a public land audit to maximize the use of city-owned land. Across the Boston metropolitan area, regional leaders view vacant public land as an important asset in meeting future housing demand.
The 30 condos are an early component of a broader effort to revitalize this section of Blue Hill Avenue, a major corridor that links suburbs south of Boston with the central city, according to the statement. The city said in July that it plans to transfer 30 separate parcels of land along the avenue to private ownership for housing, economic development and other purposes.