St. Joseph HallRibbon Cutting Great Success
Public and private sponsors of the St. Joseph Hall Renovation Project. From left to right:
Jennifer Van Campen, Metro West Collaborative Development; Roger Herzog, CEDAC; Michael Driscoll, Town of Watertown; Aaron Gornstein, Mass. Dept. of Housing and Community Development; Michael St. Jean, Cambridge Savings Bank; Ken Willis, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston; Peter Sargent, Mass. Housing Investment Corp.; Torey Dean and Eileen Lauria of Watertown Savings Bank and Tony Fracasso, MassDevelopment.
St. Joseph Hall, located in Watertown, MA, was built in approximately 1935 by the Dominican Sisters of Peace and was the location of Rosary Academy High School until it closed in 1981. In 1988 the building was renovated to create twenty-five apartments for seniors and the Rosary Academy Learning Center, a private pre-school for approximately 40 children. The Sisters also built 59 townhome condominiums around St. Joseph Hall so as to create a multi-generational community.
Metro West CD, a private non-profit community development corporation, purchased St. Joseph Hall with the goal of preserving the affordable housing provisions, which were set to expire in the spring of 2013.An additional goal was to provide much needed capital improvements to the historic building and provide improved accessibility features to meet the needs of the aging elderly residents.
The $5.4 million project, expected to be completed in January 2014, includes:
-Restoration of the masonry, parapet and foundation, which is currently leaking
-Replacement of windows with ones more energy efficient and historically accurate
-Installation of new kitchens and bathrooms
-Enhancing accessibility throughout the building
-Upgrades to the electrical, elevator and fire safety systems
The development team for St. Joseph Hall includes Henry Joseph & Associates as development consultant, Elton + Hampton Architects as project architect and Curtis Construction as general contractor. Financial support for this project comes from the Town of Watertown, the West Metro HOME Consortium, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing, MassDevelopment, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Cambridge Savings Bank, Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, Watertown Savings Bank, the Marshall Home Fund, the Watertown Housing Authorityand the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
Metro West CD is honored to be part of anover 100 year tradition of service to the community that was begun on this site by the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Metro West CD owns 44 units of affordable housing and also provides many housing and community development services. Please visit our website for more information: