Congressman, Officials Inaugurate Saint Polycarp Affordable Housing Project [Photos]

Rep. Michael Capuano, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and a slate of other officials conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to officially open Saint Polycarp Village Phase II, a $10 million section of Saint Polycarp Village.

Saint Polycarp Village is a $30 million affordable housing community in Winter Hill, built along Mystic Avenue by the .

The community, now close to being finished, sits on the former Saint Polycarp Parish land once owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

Phase I of the project, with 24 rental units, was completed in 2009, and Phase II, which Capuano was celebrating Monday, opened in February and has 29 rental units.

Construction on Phase III of the project, the final phase, will begin this fall and should be complete by 2013, according to Danny LeBlanc, CEO of the Somerville Community Corporation. When it's done, the affordable housing community will have 84 units of affordable rental units along with green space, retail space and a playground. The development also preserved the Saint Polycarp Church structure.

"I think most people have forgotten the connection between the federal government and their daily lives," Capuano said Monday, adding it's hard to forget that connection at a place like Saint Polycarp. "Almost every penny [of these projects] starts at the federal level," he said.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, also speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said the project has "transformed the neighborhood … it's really nice to see this transformation."

The two joined Undersecretary Aaron Gornstein of the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development at Monday's ribbon-cutting. 

Other speakers included Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente—who said, "It's wonderful to see what's happened in this block. I remember it as a block of overgrowth"—Tom Gleason of MassHousing, Victor Sostar of First Sterling Financial, Clark Ziegler of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Mike Rosenberg of Bank of America, Roger Herzog of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation and Bob Van Meter of Local Initiatives Support Corporation.