Neighborhoods

Bay Village

Overview

Located just a couple blocks south of the Boston Public Garden, Bay Village lies between Back Bay, South End, and the Theatre District. Inside these six square blocks is Boston’s smallest neighborhood officially recognized by the city. Its borders are represented by much busier streets but once you leave Arlington or Charles Street, you enter into a world where the buzz of city fades away. A strategic system of one way streets keeps cut through traffic at a minimum.

With easy access to South End, Back Bay and Midtown alike, many suggest that this location is hard to beat and real estate pricing has historically come at a relative value. For data tracking purposes, we file it within the South End.

Market

In 2022, 18 properties sold for over $2 million in Bay Village, totaling $48.98M, which is a significant jump from 2021’s 3 properties and $7,586,000 sales volume. A massive component of this increase was a collection of brand new townhouses that sold on Edgerly Place. These 9 homes were 100% percent under agreement before they started closings.

A separate but connected development is underway adjacent to the Edgerly townhouses, (on Arlington St), and is likely to deliver in 2023. On the larger side, 25 Isabella is now a work in progress after many years of permitting. It may not quite deliver in 2023 but it will add another 18 luxury condos to Bay Village’s inventory.

The Marc

History

This neighborhood is home to several periods of classic Boston architecture that line Bay Village’s narrow, tree-filled streets. Many of the area’s Federal style townhouses imitate larger Beacon Hill mansions since the carpenters and craftsmen who built the grand houses on the hill erected smaller versions for themselves in this nearby neighborhood. While prominent, this is not the only architectural style featured in the neighborhood. Turn the corner on Fayette Street, to find examples of English Neoclassic architecture or head to Melrose Street and find larger Greek Revival townhouses. In 1865, the City of Boston decided to raise the neighborhood by jacking up the streets, houses, and stores 18 feet above sea level. However, the city decided that back yards only needed to come up to 12 feet. As you walk through the quiet streets, you can find these sunken gardens (6’ below street level) throughout Bay Village.

WHAT'S COMING...

The massive, nearby Motor Mart garage project continues to stall. This project is a mixed-use offering that will have a large retail footprint plus accompanying apartments and condos on the higher floors. If you didn’t think that was enough development, one more large development is, at last, offering rental occupancy in the near term with a 19 story apartment building developed and managed by Graystar coming online in 2023.

We believe when real estate consumers are presented with a complete and robust spread of data, in conjunction with their personal preferences, decisions can be reached with the most confidence.

For more sales data and details on it’s sub-neighborhoods check out our Boston Luxury Real Estate Review >