A city-commissioned study says the future of Jackson Mann in Allston could feasibly include housing, as Mayor Michelle Wu announced a community meeting Thursday, May 28 at 6 p.m. to review the site’s “next chapter.”
For nearly fifty years, Jackson Mann has been the only community center in Allston-Brighton—yet the building’s current reality is straining the neighborhood.
Residents say programming has been scant. parts of the building have been deemed unsafe. and they are not allowed to use the front door of Jackson Mann. which the site recommendation calls for demolition. The new entrance—open between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays only—sits behind the old school on Armington Street.
Now, a city-commissioned study is putting a new option on the table: housing.
Mayor Michelle Wu said that the reconstruction of Jackson Mann could feasibly include housing as a separate building. not merely stacked above a community center. Wu made that point in a letter to the community last week and tied it to a meeting scheduled for Thursday. May 28 at 6 p.m. at Jackson Mann, the venue she described as the neighborhood’s next chapter.
The city’s planning is also shaped by what came up short in Wu’s five-year capital budget plan. After Wu’s plan included only $10 million for Jackson Mann, hundreds rallied in front of the community center last month demanding tens of thousands more in funding for the Allston-Brighton facility.
In her letter, Wu said the $10 million is earmarked for the design and permitting phase of the redevelopment. She added that the City intends to proceed step by step: once the City determines the mix of uses that will be housed on the site. it will proceed to design. Wu also said that as the project advances and cost estimates are completed. the allotment in the capital plan will grow.
Wu wrote that Boston is in a challenging budget moment. but the city is continuing to plan for Jackson Mann’s redevelopment. She also detailed how capital funding typically works for such projects: the cost of design—$10 million in this case—typically represents about 10 percent of a project’s total cost. She said authorizations for capital projects are not bound by fiscal year. so previous funding rolls over and may be used in future years.
The political and financial backdrop is tense. In April, Wu revealed her $4.9 billion budget proposal for the next fiscal year, as the city faces a nearly $50 million budget deficit this year, and as many as 400 Boston Public Schools positions could be cut next year.
For residents, the stakes go beyond budgeting. Jackson Mann has sat without a new plan for years after two Boston schools previously located at the site left. Plans to build a new school there appear to have stalled. while most of the 1974 building was recommended for demolition. according to a 2019 engineering report by Boston Public Schools.
The Jackson Mann K-8 school closed in 2022. The Horace Mann School for the Deaf—connected to the community center by a skybridge—was in a much larger building on Armington Street before moving to Charlestown in 2024.
Wu pointed to a new public assets study released last month. saying it found that housing will likely be in a separate building rather than stacked above a community center. At next week’s meeting. she said the city will walk through the study’s results and the potential for mixed use at the building.
The study test-fitted a Allston-Brighton community center, an elementary school, and housing on the site. It also included options for up to two pools and more than 700 seats in a K-6 school.
Wu framed the vision for the site as something more substantial than a repair job. “The Jackson Mann will not be a simple rebuild. The parcels involved are large enough to support more than one use,” she wrote. She added that residents have advocated for housing to be added onsite to address critical housing affordability challenges in the community.
The city said it is also “exploring” whether other city-owned buildings in Allston-Brighton could help address a lack of programming for youth and families as the design and construction phase gets underway.
The May 28 meeting will be hosted by BCYF, the city’s Public Facilities Department, and architecture firm Utile. Boston City Council President Liz Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton, promoted the event and said she is looking forward to a strong turnout from the community.
With Jackson Mann’s front door closed off and the neighborhood waiting on a redevelopment plan that has long been promised but delayed. the community meeting next week is set to determine how far the city’s “next chapter” can go—and what the neighborhood will demand when the options finally move from study to design.
Jackson Mann Allston-Brighton Michelle Wu Boston capital budget community meeting housing BCYF Utile Boston Public Schools public assets study Armington Street housing affordability