Meetings to Resume on Harriet Tubman House Project

After a long pause following two wild meetings earlier this fall on the Harriet Tubman House project, the Impact Advisory Group (IAG) for the Harriet Tubman House will resume meeting on Dec. 9 in 566 Columbus Ave.

The Proposed Project will redevelop the building, which is being sold by United South End Settlements to New Boston Ventures. The current building will be demolished for a new, six-story mixed-use commercial and residential building. The proposed project will feature a community oriented ground floor with approximately 5,000 square-feet of commercial space, including a social enterprise café with outdoor seating, an art exhibit gallery open to the public, and new, improved and modern community space for the United South End Settlements. The Proposed Project will contain 66 residential home-ownership units, 11 of which will be artist live/work spaces, and 42 below-grade parking spaces.

The meetings on the project took a contentious course earlier this year in two meetings that stretched more than two hours each and featured a great deal of screaming, yelling and scrapping.

Most of the animus has to do with non-profits being displaced from the building to another location, as well as the historical aspect of USES in the building.

Reportedly there have been a number of meetings privately on both sides with Mayor Martin Walsh and others in the administration, but that could not be confirmed.

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