Boston – Historic Boston Inc. (HBI) and the Urban Farming Institute (UFI) of Boston announced that the institute has purchased the historic Fowler Clark Epstein Farm at 487 Norfolk Ave. in Mattapan, a property redeveloped by Historic Boston for the health- and education-focused nonprofit in 2018.
The restored property is headquarters and permanent home for UFI’s mission of developing and promoting urban farming that engages individuals in growing food and building a healthy community.
“By working together, this unique historic place is preserved and an important resource for UFI and the Mattapan neighborhood,” said Kathy Kottaridis, executive director of Historic Boston. “And it’s now in the hands of a skilled nonprofit operator at about a third of the cost of what it would have taken them to transform the property themselves.”
The building was purchased in 2015 by HBI when the 18th-century Fowler Clark Epstein Farm had fallen into disrepair and faced an uncertain future. Working with UFI, the Trust for Public Land and North Bennet Street School, HBI and its partners raised nearly $2 million in charitable support and garnered generosity from local businesses, contractors and individuals. The collaborative effort transformed the historic property’s $3.8 million into a state-of-the-art urban farming headquarters for UFI. The partners rehabilitated the distressed farmhouse and barn in 2018, transforming it from a private residence into an urban farming center with classrooms, offices, a produce processing center, and demonstration farm beds, under the direction of UFI.
“This is a momentous day for UFI,” said UFI executive director, Patricia Spence. “The plans put in place eight years ago have come to fruition, and UFI now controls the land on which it farms, trains and welcomes the community.”
Patricia Spence at the opening of the farm in June 2018
In compliance with certain rules for utilization of federal historic tax credits for the property’s redevelopment, UFI occupied and managed the historic property as tenant for the last five years, as the property’s restoration was planned and intended for UFI’s long-term occupancy. “The farm is home to us, and has become a special center for our farmers and our neighbors,” said Spence. “Fresh food is vital to a healthy community and from this place we share our bounty and teach the principles of cultivation and growth.”
UFI paid $1.4 million for the farm, a sum that extinguished a debt held by HBI with Eastern Bank. The sale to UFI closed on Jan. 12, 2024.
