Charlestown Navy Yard could get 100 affordable apartments, half aimed at women and veterans coming off of homelessness

Two non-profit groups say they will soon file detailed plans to rebuild the shuttered Constitution Inn at 150 3rd Ave. in the Charlestown Navy Yard into an affordable apartment building, with roughly half the units aimed at people making between $30,000 and $83,000 and the other half targeted at "households headed by women or by veterans" who were previously homeless.

In a letter of intent submitted yesterday, the Archdiocese of Boston's Planning Office for Urban Affairs and St. Francis House, say that their plans will include "on-site professional services" for the residents in the 48 "supportive housing" units. POUA specializes in affordable housing; St. Francis House specializes in caring for the homeless.

The proposal will also include letting the YMCA continue running its fitness center and pool in the building, the groups say.

The two groups had originally submitted preliminary plans for a 126-unit apartment building last October - and asked the BPDA to waive its normal "large project" review.

The groups said the project, if anything, would have less of an impact on the neighborhood than a hotel, in part because most of its residents would not have cars, but withdrew the waiver request after a neighborhood outcry over the need for letting the public have its say. Submission of the new plans, which the two groups say should be in a few weeks, will kick off a series of reviews and meetings, including by an "impact advisory group" of nearby residents to be named by the BPDA.

Under the proposal, the two groups would take over the Y's long-term lease of the building with the BPDA, which owns it.

The hotel shut at the outset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, re-opened that June, then closed for good that October.

In their October submission, the groups said they would largely keep the exterior of the building, part of the historic Navy Yard, as it is, save for replacing windows and the roof and making repairs to damaged parts of the building.

Constitution Inn filings and meeting schedule.