LGBTQ+ Apartment Complex For Seniors Set To Open In Boston

BOSTON, MA — The Pryde, a first-of-its-kind 74-unit apartment affordable housing community for seniors over age 62, is set to hold its ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, according to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office.

The Pryde came to life in Hyde Park after the former William Barton Rogers Middle School was transformed into a mix of studio and one and two-bedroom independent living apartments “where LGBTQ seniors over age 62 can age as their whole selves,” its website says.

Mayor Michelle Wu and Senator Elizabeth Warren are set to appear at the grand opening Friday.

The project has been a long time in the making.

In 2022, The Pryde held a ceremony attended by elected and appointed officials from the city, state, and federal levels as well as representatives from public and private agencies who helped shepherd the development plan through the approval process, and who assembled the financing.

But finally, things are moving forward.

“Any week now we will be opening our doors and continuing to make history,” Gretchen Van Ness, executive director of LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc., told Boston25 News earlier this week. “We expect to be fully occupied by the fall.”

The Pryde building includes a 10,000-square-foot community center, a multipurpose space for neighborhood meetings and events, a learning classroom, a library, and an art exhibition space. There, it will host Portraits of Pride, a photography project that presents large-scale and intimate portraits of LGBTQ leaders through curated exhibitions and special installations, according to its website.

The grand opening ceremony will begin at 55 Harvard Avenue at 1 p.m.