RODE Architects won this project in an in an invited competition including five design firms. The design brief was a proposal for the adaptive reuse of the old Pearl Meats factory in Dorchester. The client, Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, is leading a broad community effort to revitalize a 2-block stretch of Quincy Street in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Boston. This effort will redevelop 4+ acres of vacant or blighted land and bring more than $70 million of investment in affordable housing, commercial development, job creation, job training and youth arts programming in the next 2-3 years. The redevelopment of the Pearl Meats factory is a key element within the larger project.
The Pearl Meats property consists of a 36,000 SF single-story masonry building on a 2-acre site in the heart of the Quincy Corridor. The client requested a proposal for the redevelop the existing Pearl property as a light industrial small business center to accommodate multiple industrial/flex-space uses, such as contractors, food-related businesses, artists, etc. The project will be executed in two phases, with two budgets.