Historic Boston Incorporated is a 55-year old historic preservation organization that redevelops at-risk historic buildings in order to help Boston’s neighborhoods thrive. HBI works with local partners to identify and invest in historic buildings, providing a full array of support including technical expertise, site acquisition, project financing and access to local, state and federal resources. W
ith the ability to devote its own technical and financial resources to projects, attract capital from conventional lenders and philanthropic sources, utilize state and federal tax credit programs, HBI continues to be a patient non-profit investor and developer in the preservation and re-use of important historic buildings that the market has disregarded. Founded in 1960 to save Downtown Boston’s Old Corner Bookstore building, HBI has redeveloped dozens of historic buildings throughout Boston’s neighborhoods. HBI’s most recent projects include the $2.5 million redevelopment of the 1859 Eustis Street Fire House in Dudley Square, Boston’s oldest remaining fire house structure, for HBI’s new headquarters; the $5.8 million rehabilitation of the 1875 Hayden Building in Chinatown into four market rate apartments and a retail space; the Anna Clapp Harris Smith House in Dorchester, a partnership with North Bennet Street School funded by the 1772 Foundation; and the $3.8 million restoration of the 1836 Alvah Kittredge House, an unusual Greek Revival period mansion in Roxbury’s Highland Park for Affordable Housing, also supported by the 1772 Foundation. Currently, HBI manages a portfolio of five properties that it has rehabilitated, and three that are in development: the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm (1786), the Upham’s Corner Comfort Station (1912) in Dorchester, and the Roslindale Substation (1911).
