Plans filed to turn North End K of C into senior apartments

The East Boston Community Development Corp. and Affirmative Investments, Inc. have filed plans with the BPDA to convert the Knights of Columbus Hall at 41 North Margin St. into 23 affordable apartments for senior citizens and to build a small addition that the Knights of Columbus would continue to use.

The current five-story building would get a gut rehab, including a new elevator, and would have 13 parking spaces.

The Knights are committed to the North End community, and as their membership has declined in the past decade, they have decided that they could serve the community best if they worked to redevelop their headquarters at 41 N. Margin Street into affordable housing for seniors. ...

The proposed project offers the immense benefit of increasing the number of senior affordable housing units in Boston’s North End. The EBCDC is acutely aware of the unmet demand for senior affordable housing in the North End as developers and managers of the Villa Michelangelo, a 71-unit affordable housing development in the North End for seniors. The current waiting list for a one-bedroom in the Michelangelo is 141 applicants long 31 applicants long for a studio. The current problem will become even more severe when the Mercantile Building’s subsidized, affordable rents expire. Moreover, the proposed project will support the Knights of Columbus’ community building efforts in the North End. Firstly, the space in the basement will be available to the North End community in addition to the tenants for community meetings and events. Secondly, the Knights support dozens of community and charitable organizations in the community, and a more appropriate meeting hall will allow them to further and better their work in the community.

41 N. Margin St. small-project review application (27M PDF).