Hyde Square Youth Community Development Center/Kaplan Construction
Boston – Kaplan Construction has been commissioned to renovate two youth-focused centers in Greater Boston.
The Hyde Square Task Force has engaged Kaplan to renovate the historic stone Cheverus Building in Jamaica Plain for the Hyde Square Youth Community Development Center, and RTH Riverway, LLC has selected the firm for its interior fit-out project at the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Child Care Center.
Designed by Arrowstreet of Boston, the 13,000sf Cheverus renovations focus on ADA accessibility improvements, including the addition of an elevator, and interior finish updates. Kaplan is renovating all offices, creating performance and dance spaces, and soundproofing the Afro-American drum percussion room.
The Cheverus Building, originally constructed in 1901, is the only building in a cluster of historic buildings not redeveloped in recent years. The renovation, supported by grant funding, is expected to be completed by early December.
RTH is located on the first floor of a recently constructed 11-story building in the Longwood Medical area. Kaplan will frame and finish the 9,715sf raw space, creating two infant rooms, three toddler rooms, two preschool rooms, two mixed-age enrichment rooms, an office, a staff kitchen, and a lobby.
Expected to be completed by the end of 2016, the center was designed by Kang Associates, Inc. from Framingham. Additional project team members include Mukenbeck Consulting, Traggorth Companies, LLC, ADK Construction Consulting, LLC, and Cosentini Associates.
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RTH is a non-profit housing and human service organization that was founded by Mission Hill residents in 1969 to encourage community involvement; foster the improvement of housing, recreation, and related facilities for the residents; and improve the social and economic condition of the community. The Child Care Center is one of a variety of programs designed for the residents who reside at Mission Park and the additional neighborhood housing adjoining the site.
The Hyde Square Task Force was founded in the late 1980s as a neighborhood effort to quell the rampant violence, drug dealing, and gang activity in the surrounding area. The organization, incorporated in 1991 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has grown to serve more than 1,200 youth each year.
Kaplan Construction was selected, in part, due to its successful history of working with nonprofit organizations throughout the Boston area, as well as its previous experience renovating the Brookline Teen Center. Completed in 2013, the Brookline Teen Center is the only dedicated facility providing out-of-school activities for teens in grades seven through twelve who attend school or live in Brookline. Kaplan completed extensive renovations to the 12,000sf space, which now features a bowling alley, gym, recording studio, lounge, outdoor patio, café, aerobics dance studio, game rooms, and study hall.
Kaplan recently completed its third child care center in Cambridge, Mass. and started the construction on the expansion of a center in Natick, Mass. for Bright Horizons Family Solutions®, a leading provider of early education and preschools, employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, educational advisory services and other work/life solutions.
“It is an honor to create welcoming and safe spaces for the youth of Boston,” said Nate Peck, president of Kaplan Construction. “Kaplan Construction is passionate about building high-quality, cost effective projects and, as a family-owned firm, we continually seek ways to improve our community. The Hyde Square YCDC and the RTH Child Care Center are great organizations committed to providing safe, friendly, and enriching programs for children. All of us at Kaplan feel privileged to have a role in the responsibility of providing these safe havens.”
