Chinatown Land Trust Completes Boston's First Community Land Trust Condos at Oak Street

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Boston's Chinatown Community Land Trust celebrated the completion of the city's first community land trust condominiums Wednesday at 29 Oak Street, a historic row house that has housed immigrant working-class families since the 1840s. Executive Director Lydia Lowe and President Suzanne Lee presided over a bilingual ceremony attended by Mayor Kim Janey, City Councilors Ed Flynn and Lydia Edwards, and State Representative Aaron Michalowicz. The units are structured under a renewable 99-year ground lease that keeps land in permanent community ownership while allowing buyers to build individual equity. Financing came from the city's Acquisition Opportunity Program, a line of credit from the LIFE Initiative arranged by Kristen Harrell and Molly Lockwood, and a private Row House Preservation Fund backed by roughly 50 donors. Councilor Edwards disclosed she personally persuaded the property's developer to negotiate a sale back to the community after being contacted by Lowe and Chinese Progressive Association Executive Director Karen Chen, calling the deal "precedent setting" for neighborhoods like East Boston facing similar displacement pressures. Two new homeowners, Meidan Lin and Eddie Hickey, received their keys at the ceremony's close.