BOSTON — Developers plan to break ground on the first phase of a $250 million redevelopment in Boston's Jackson Square this Saturday. The multi-phase project aims to reshape an entire neighborhood during the next several years.

The project at 225 Centre St. calls for a building that will house 103 apartment units, more than 16,000 square feet of retail and an underground parking structure. It is the largest project within a 14-building redevelopment plan to rebuild Jackson Square, says Bart Mitchell, president and CEO of The Community Partners, the project developer.

"The community is ready to see beautiful buildings in these vacant lots in the center of the neighborhood," says Mitchell.

Nearly 40 years ago, a failed highway expansion project bulldozed homes and businesses in the area, leaving much of the neighborhood vacant or underutilized.

In the mid-1990s a consortium of community groups — including the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp., Urban Edge and the Hyde Square Task Force — worked closely with city officials and developers to begin a comprehensive redevelopment plan, explains Mitchell.

"There was an extensive community visioning process that involved hundreds of area residents," he says. "They said what they would like to see in terms of the use and scale of the development."

Project leaders say one goal of the redevelopment effort is to reknit the neighborhoods. For instance, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury once met in Jackson Square, but today they are separated by vacant land.

The first phase at 225 Centre St. is slated for completion in the summer of 2013. The new apartment and retail building will include 35 affordable apartments, with 10 of those units reserved for extremely low-income families. Mitchell says there has been increasing price pressure for housing in nearby areas. "Adding affordable apartments to the mix will preserve the chance for people with moderate a income to participate in a revitalized Jackson Square."

He adds that the site's location will also draw demand from renters. The project is adjacent to the Orange Line stop at Jackson Square and less than three miles from downtown Boston. It's also half a mile from Northeastern University and the Longwood medical area.

"There's an enormous amount of people that like to commute by bike from this location to Back Bay and downtown," says Mitchell. "It's very convenient to places of work."

Developer Urban Edge will construct the second phase, which calls for an additional 438 apartment units. Plans submitted to the city also include an indoor recreational facility at 1562 Columbus Ave. The center would allow for ice skating in the colder months and indoor turf sports for the rest of the year.

"The future projects at Jackson Square are expected to be built over a six- to seven-year period thereafter," says Mitchell.

The various buildings will reportedly be constructed using a mix of city, state, federal and private funding. The 225 Centre St. development recently received $46.8 million in funding from MassHousing, New Market Tax Credits and union pension funds, according to the Jamaica Plain Gazette.

When complete, the Jackson Square development will include more than 400 housing units, 60,000 square feet of retail space and 13,000 square feet of office space. The plan also calls for 50,000 square feet of community facilities.

— Liz Burlingame