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Trinity Financial celebrates complete renovations

by Michele D.  Maniscalco
Thursday Oct 5, 2017

Residents and neighbors of 35@860, Trinity Financial's two affordable apartment buildings at 35 Northampton Street and 860 Harrison Avenue, partied on Northampton Street on Saturday, September 23 at Trinity Financial's block party to celebrate the completion of two years of live-in renovations at the 347 unit affordable housing complex.

Bright sunshine and a cool breeze greeted the party, which offered free food and soft drinks, music, face painting, on-site art and information booths from Boston Medical Center, Boston Public Health Commission and Pilot House addiction services.

Event spokesperson Madeline Fitzgerald reported that 400 to 500 people attended the block party, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who mingled with guests, chatting and posing for pictures. Café Quattro at 817 Harrison Avenue provided plain and pepperoni pizzas; Smokey Slushes served several flavors of water ice and Total Entertainment provided music by DJ Vernon West, who deftly mixed disco and R & B with current dance tunes to create a fresh mix.

A young man with a flower behind his ear danced non-stop throughout the party. Next to the DJ table, a painter from Artists for Humanity painted canvases while guests watched. At the face painting table, a woman had a Puerto Rican flag painted on her cheek out of respect and concern for her relatives and friends on the island who were caught in the paths of the ferocious hurricanes Irma and José.

Eva Erlich, vice president of development for Trinity Financial, explained that the company has been working on the two apartment buildings, which total 347 affordable units, since 2010 and completed a two-year renovation with tenants living on site in 2016. "We did a lot of work on the exterior and tried to change the way the buildings interact with each other and with the neighborhood," Erlich said.

"We decided we wanted ot celebrate all the work the residents lived through and the re-visioning of the two buildings. We see it as a chance to bring the residents together and we invited folks from Roxbury and the South End to tie this development, which has historically been an institutional, medical area to the surrounding neighborhoods." Erlich said the buildings were constructed as dormitories for the nursing school at Boston City Hospital between 1969 and 1973 and they were "tired." "As far as I know, the residents are very happy with how they look now."