First built in 1940 as a cluster of 22 three-story brick building’s housing 873 low-income units,[1] It is one of the Boston Housing Authority's oldest developments.
42°19′54″N 71°03′02″W / 42.3318°N 71.050666°W / 42.3318; -71.050666 Across the street from Old Colony, on the rotary to the southwest, is where James "Whitey" Bulger owned a liquor store and headquartered his organized crime ring.
[3] Old Colony is currently in the middle of a three-phase redevelopment that is moving most of its tenants from the original large multi-family complexes to mixed housing in newly constructed townhouse rows and apartment buildings that will replace the 1940s structures.
Phase I, which replaced rows of brick buildings containing 164 units with 116 new affordable townhouse units along Old Colony Avenue and Columbia Road, commenced in late 2010 and was finished in March 2012.
[2] Phase II, which was partially financed by a $22 million HOPE VI Revitalization grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, was completed in 2014.