Amory Architects and the team of consultants completed this study as the first step to returning the Alvah Kittredge Park Row Houses, a former jewel of the Roxbury neighborhood, into habitable and desirable condition. After careful review of the design features worthy of preservation and their structural condition, it is evident that all four row houses should be preserved and can be rehabilitated. The primary impediment is coordinating under one development umbrella four owners whose goals are at variance; another is the significant shortfall between the project revenues and project costs. These points are examined in detail in the full report that follows.

If agreement on the future of The Alvah Kittredge Park Row Houses among the four owners is reached and if a development entity can obtain adequate subsidy to cover project costs, then the renovation of these row houses is an opportunity that should not be lost.

Historic Boston wants to put people and resources together in order to:

3. Reinforce the sense of community and pride in the Roxbury Highland neighborhood;

5 - 8 Alvah Kittredge Park is a handsome but derelict block of four 19^th-century row houses which are contributing elements to the Roxbury Highlands National Register Historic District .

Several studies have targeted the Alvah Kittredge Park Row Houses as an endangered historic site since at least 1985. HBI first identified the Row Houses in the 1985 Preservation Revolving Fund Casebook, Second Edition. Since then it has been listed in HBI's 1999 Preservation Revolving Fund Casebook and in Gail Sullivan Associates' 1999 study Preserving Highland Park - Protecting a Livable Community, prepared for the Boston Landmarks Commission.

Three of the four row houses have been vacant for at least 25 years, and over that time have suffered significantly from fire, water damage, vandalism, and, in some cases, neglect.

Why Restore Housing Here?

Restoring the Alvah Kittredge Park Row Houses will:

1. Mend frayed urban fabric in a stable and well-maintained neighborhood and reestablish the row houses as the pivotal block defining Kittredge Park;

2. create new homes in historic structures well built as houses 125 years ago as part of dense residential development typical of the area;

3. preserve a Victorian architectural treasure, a fine example of the Second Empire style characterized by tall brick and brownstone bow-front facades and entry stairs, high slate mansard roofs with pedimented dormers, fine wood cornice and details, and well-proportioned windows;

4. remove a derelict and potentially hazardous condition facing a park in a residential neighborhood;

5. adapt an unsightly portion of our built environment into something of which the community can be proud; and

6. install owner occupied housing which has a stabilizing impact on neighborhoods which have suffered from disinvestment in the past.

Estimated Development Costs and Sales Proceeds as Eight Market Rate Condominiums

Impediments to Development

1. The current fractionalized ownership of these four buildings is the greatest impediment to their preservation. It is highly unlikely that a project which did not include all four buildings would receive construction loan financing. It is also unlikely, given the uneven condition of the buildings, that the market rate sales prices proposed for condominiums to be developed in the building could be achieved without concurrent renovation of all four buildings.

2. As it is highly unlikely that any one building would be renovated if the others were not, the present value of any one building is considerably diminished. An economic value for any one building is possible only if all are concurrently renovated. In practice, an economic value for the property will only result from the assemblage of all four parcels under the ownership of one development entity.

3. Assuming assemblage of the parcel under the ownership of one development entity, a further impediment is the equity cash requirement represented by the estimated shortfall of $1,230,000 between project revenue and project cost. Setting aside the magnitude of the shortfall, it is clear both historically and currently that the residential real estate market in this immediate area will not economically support the restoration of these four buildings and that a considerable cash subsidy will be required to effect their restoration and preservation.

4. Reducing the construction specifications from an historic standard to a developer standard could reduce the projected shortfall by $153,000 at the risk of losing $200,000 in potential grants for historic restoration.

5. Pricing 25 % of the eight unit project (2 units) at a $105,000 per unit price affordable to a three-person family with an income of $45,000 would increase the project shortfall approximately $80,000.