Historic changes are happening in Charlestown. Mayor Wu and other officials broke ground on the Bunker Hill Public Housing project last week and after eight years of planning, the transformation of the aging property is underway.

Here's what to know about development along Bunker Hill Street:

The public housing community is made up of 42 buildings and currently has 1,110 units.
It was built in 1940 as federal public housing.
This project is the largest public housing redevelopment in the City of Boston’s history.

Suffolk Construction has begun work on a the first apartment building designed by Stantec that will create 102 units of deeply affordable housing. | Rendering via Stantec

What will the Bunker Hill Public Housing development look like in the future?

The current buildings will be demolished and replaced with 15 new residential buildings, 70,000 sqft of retail space, and2.8 acres reserved for green spaces.
The project will expand the community to a 2,699 unit mixed-income development featuring amix of studios and one, two, and three bedrooms.
All existing public housing units (1,110) will be replaced with affordable units, ~1,500 market-rate units, and an additional 100 units built offsite in the Charlestown neighborhood.
The new construction will be built with the City's climate and energy goals in mind.

Phase one of construction is in the works now, starting with a four to six-story apartment building, which will create 102 units of affordable housing.