With lottery luck, pricey digs at 'affordable' rent

At Back Bay's Mandarin, 10 apartments put aside for the fortunate without fortunes

A lottery to award 10 affordable apartments in the Back Bay's Mandarin Oriental will begin Monday. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/file)

You don't have to be superrich to live in the Mandarin Oriental. Just lucky.

Beginning Monday, the city's most luxurious new address will begin accepting applications for a lottery that will select tenants to live in the $300 million complex's 10 "affordable apartments."

With the Back Bay building billing itself as "the pinnacle of luxury and personal service," an affordable apartment there isn't exactly cheap. Rents will range from $1,254 to $2,172 a month for the one- and two-bedroom apartments. Still, that's a hefty break from what the elite pay. The rents on the 25 market-rate apartments range from $6,000 to $13,000 a month.

Ailley Sysouphanh, who spends her days waiting on residents of the Mandarin, among other customers, said she would be thrilled to be able to live among them, too. A saleswoman at the Italian fine linens store Frette on the first floor of the Mandarin, the 28-year-old plans to apply for one of the affordable units.

"That would be a dream come true," she said.

The lottery is slated for mid-December, and is being held under a city-run affordable-housing program that is intended to bring middle-income residents to even the most exclusive of addresses and neighborhoods.

"You can bring your working-class views into the utmost of wealth," said Bill Walczak, chief executive of the Codman Square Health Center, which provides medical and social services to low- and moderate-income residents in Dorchester. "There will be some people with real lives that people in those fancy joints can experience."

To qualify, individuals must make between $48,050 and $72,050 a year, and a family of four, between $68,650 and $102,950. City residents and handicapped tenants are given preference in the lottery.

Winners will live in the same lap of luxury as their wealthy neighbors. Although the city requires only that developers make the affordable units "comparable" to the market-rate ones, the Mandarin's builders chose to make them identical. That means the same generous layout, Atlantic green granite counters in the kitchen, Portofino marble throughout the bathrooms, soundproof windows, access to the concierge downstairs, and heated sidewalks out front.

"At the beginning of the project, the city and the community made it clear that they wanted opportunities for a variety of professionals to be able to enjoy living at Mandarin Oriental, Boston," said Mandarin spokeswoman Lisa Pollack. "And to us, the spirit of the law is that everyone should be treated equally."

So who could afford and be willing to put up with such luxury? Mandarin representatives expect applicants will probably be white-collar rather than blue-collar, because the rents on these units are still pricey.

"I would imagine the people we will attract are young working professionals," said Mark Driscoll, of Maloney Properties, which is marketing the housing lottery. "People in the community, paralegals, admins, residents at hospitals."

Applications can be picked up at the lower level of the Prudential Center at 800 Boylston St. beginning Monday.

Other recent luxury developments that have also provided affordably priced units include 360 Newbury Street in Back Bay, where Elyse Blanda bought her 700-square-foot condo for $159,300 two years ago, when similar units were on the market for $600,000 to $3.6 million.

Although her neighbors are noticeably wealthy - one has multiple homes, another is a college student whose father bought her unit - Blanda said none treat her any differently. "People are very nice," said Blanda, a 26-year-old claims administrator.

The city housing policy requires developers to set aside 15 percent of units as affordable housing, or else pay at least $200,000 per unit to finance such housing elsewhere in the city. Boston officials said because of the steep cost of paying to build the units off-site, developers of luxury properties are increasingly choosing to host their affordable housing within their projects. Since 2000, developers have added 1,050 on-site affordable-housing units, with the Mandarin's by far the swankiest.

At the Mandarin, the middle-income tenants may live side-by-side with the wealthy. But rubbing shoulders with them throughout the complex may be a bit out of their price range. A hydrotherapy bath and massage session at the Mandarin's spa runs about $200, and the veal loin at one of its fancy restaurants, Asana, is $42 a plate.

Indeed, the proximity of so much expensive living doesn't hold an allure for some residents.

"I don't think a family would want to live at the Mandarin," said 40-year-old Rohan Dixon, who works for the beverage firm Lenox-Martell Inc., and was cleaning beer taps at a bar across the street. "You are going to find yourself in so much debt."

Jenifer B. McKim can be reached at jmckim@globe.com.