MassHousing Provides $10.8M To Renovate 61 Units In Springfield

MassHousing announced yesterday it provided $10.8 million in financing to the nonprofit developer Home City Development Inc., to advance the second phase of the substantial rehabilitation of the 136-unit E. Henry Twiggs Estates in Springfield. The project will complete major renovations of 61 scattered-site apartments for low-income families in the Mason Square neighborhood of Springfield.

MassHousing is supporting the redevelopment of E. Henry Twiggs Estates by issuing $10.8 million in short-term, tax-exempt debt, in a private placement with TD Bank. TD Bank will serve as both construction and permanent financing lender on the project. Permanent financing will result from a taxable execution with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. This transaction is MassHousing’s first tax-exempt conduit loan outside Greater Boston.

“MassHousing’s partnership with TD Bank, and Home City Development, will preserve a key affordable housing resource in Springfield,” MassHousing Acting Executive Director Tom Lyons said in a statement. “Safe, modern affordable housing supports healthy families. Many of properties involved in this transaction are more than 100 years old and in need of major upgrades. By delivering major renovations to the interiors and exteriors of the E. Henry Twiggs Estates properties, this project will dramatically improve the quality of life enjoyed by the residents of the Twiggs Estates, and support the revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood.”

The E. Henry Twiggs Estates are comprised of 136 affordable units located in 59 scattered-site buildings, including 41 more than 100 years old, and 18 structures built in the 1980s. Phase One of the rehabilitation effort, which MassHousing was not involved with, completely renovated 75 affordable housing units. The second phase of the project will completely upgrade the remaining 61 units, delivering upgraded heating systems and insulation, new kitchens and bathrooms in all units, new roofing and siding and energy efficiency upgrades, including the replacement of boilers and updated electrical wiring.

Of the 61 units in Phase Two, 16 will be reserved for households at or below 30 percent of the Area Median Income ($24,600 a year for a family of four), and 45 units will be for households earning at or below 60 percent AMI ($39,960 a year for a family of four). Twenty-eight of the units are supported through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program and four units are subsidized through the Massachusetts Supportive Housing Initiative.

In addition to the MassHousing and TD Bank financing, the transaction involved $13.8 million in equity from an allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), $1.9 million in DHCD financing, $1 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which MassHousing manages on behalf of DHCD, a $2.5 million seller note, $450,000 from the Massachusetts Facilities Consolidation Fund, which supports housing for clients of the Department of Mental Health andDepartment of Developmental Services, and $50,000 from the city of Springfield.

https://www.bankerandtradesman.com/masshousing-provides-10-8-million-to-renovate-61-units-in-springfield/?utm_campaign=Daily&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=59536268&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–VAH-TFay6pBfGcFZEscdOFFvrW6r5LoDB5q2mcwIXW5RA0YnKsRxYsD9h4U7L3NFO-RYVaia9fMSc163CbFWrlVqr7A&_hsmi=59536268

SourceBanker & Tradesman

Renovations complete at Framingham’s Tribune Apartments

When he first arrived in Massachusetts in the early 1980s, Samuel Salguero had no trouble finding an affordable place to live.

The 67-year-old immigrated to the United States from Guatemala decades ago, settling first in Los Angeles, then moving to the Bay State for work.

Salguero said he didn’t worry as much back then about making rent. But Salguero — who got a job driving cars at ADESA, the auction house in Framingham — suffered a health setback. A car accident in 2004 left him with a broken neck and broken back.

He was forced into early retirement, and as housing costs began to rise, Salguero saw his options dwindling. Salguero says he was lucky to find a spot in the Tribune Apartments, a 53-unit complex on Irving Street that offers affordable rents to seniors and people with disabilities.

After living in the building for nearly a decade, Salguero was especially delighted this summer when construction crews arrived to renovate his apartment. They overhauled the kitchen, fixed the leaky ceiling and finished the work in time for his wife to cook a turkey in their brand new stove for Thanksgiving.

“I’m so happy,” Salguero said. “I live nice and comfortable. We got a brand new AC, nice kitchen and everything. I don’t have any complaints about it.”

State and local officials gathered with Salguero and other tenants of the apartment complex Friday to celebrate the completion of major renovations. The multimillion dollar project, funded in part by the state, helped shore up the century-old building, ensuring a supply of affordable housing is available in South Framingham in the future.

“We need to really make a concerted effort to ensure that people have quality affordable housing at all levels,” state Sen. Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, said, “especially in light of the way that housing prices are skyrocketing and affordable housing options are becoming increasingly limited.”

Located at 46 Irving St., the Tribune Apartments comprises a pair of four-story buildings, one of which was previously the home of the Framingham Tribune newspaper. The Tribune Building was constructed in 1892 to house the weekly publication.

Next door, the Victory Building was added in the early 1900s. The buildings were joined in 1982 and converted to housing for seniors and people with disabilities. The complex is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Preservation of Affordable Housing, a nonprofit that owns and operates low- and moderate-income housing in nine states, acquired the facility in 2013.

POAH looks for opportunities to preserve affordable housing in markets with rising rents. It began renovations in January 2017 on the Tribune Apartments, tapping a major grant from the state.

The organization received nearly $3.6 million from the state’s Housing Preservation and Stabilization Trust Fund. The money paid for a roof replacement, upgrades to kitchens and bathrooms, energy efficient appliances, new windows, a new sprinkler system, accessibility improvements and a new management office.

The state also helped fund a partnership with BayPath Elder Services, which will maintain a full-time office at the apartment building. BayPath will help connect tenants with health programs, financial education, computer classes and other services.

Reflecting on her own time living on the Southside, Mayor-Elect Yvonne Spicer said her first apartment in Framingham was located a short distance away on Eames Street. Working as a teacher and living on a salary of $18,000, Spicer said it was vital to find an affordable place to live in the community.

Spicer said she plans to work toward increasing the amount of affordable housing in the community when she begins her first term in office next year.

“If our people are not thriving in downtown, then we as a whole community cannot thrive,” she said, “and so I am putting a lot of my energy in thinking about our underserved areas, making sure that there’s more affordable housing — that people can stay here.”

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20171215/renovations-complete-at-framinghams-tribune-apartments

SourceThe MetroWest Daily News

Blanchard School housing project receives final financing

The Virginia A. Blanchard School has been vacant for 15 years, but after the last piece of financing fell into place Friday, it should see new occupants – renters in affordable apartments – by early 2019.

The final funding was provided by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, and included $6.2 million in federal low-income housing and historic tax credits, according to a news release from the agency.

The school will be redeveloped into one-, two- and three-bedroom units, reserved for households with incomes ranging from below 30 percent of the area median income up to 60 percent of the area median income. Developers will give priority to veterans and Uxbridge renters.

The main building will be converted into nine rental apartments, a management office and community space. A four-story addition containing 16 apartments will be constructed at the back of the existing school.

The Virginia Blanchard Memorial Housing Association, which is developing the project along with Jon Juhl of JNJUHL & Associates, has been working with the town since 2010 on a redevelopment plan. Built in 1873 as an elementary school, the building served as an educational site for more than 125 years.

Other major sources of funding include: The Life Initiative ($6 million construction loan), the state Department of Housing and Community Development ($2.2 million), Massachusetts Housing Partnership ($250,000 permanent loan), state low-income and historic tax credits ($1.7 million, purchased by UniBank) and $33,207 of historic funds from the town. The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation provided pre-development funding.

Nunes Trabucco Architects of Needham and general contractor Sugrue & Associates, of North Scituate, R.I., are on the development team.

Harry Romasco, president of Virginia Blanchard Memorial Housing, told selectmen Monday that he would propose that the School Committee set up a Virginia Blanchard scholarship fund with $100,000 in proceeds from transfer of the school to the housing development from the town.

http://www.telegram.com/news/20171201/blanchard-school-housing-project-receives-final-financing

SourceWorcester Telegram

Northampton affordable housing apartment complex ‘The Lumber Yard’ breaks ground

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Northampton Wednesday for The Lumber Yard Apartments, a new affordable housing complex coming to the city.

The project is the product of Northampton-based non-profit Valley Community Development Corporation (CDC), which dedicates itself to empowering low and moderate income individuals through housing development and home ownership encouragement.

Upon completion, the Lumber Yard, located at 256 Pleasant Street, will be a four-story, 70,000-square complex, replete with 55 units that offers housing to low and moderate income families and individuals. It sits on the site of former lumber business Northampton Lumber, hence its name.

The cost of the project is nearly $19 million. Its development has been facilitated through funding and support from a wide number of organizations and institutions, including the City of Northampton, state organization MassWorks, the state Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, TD Bank, Way Finders, and Smith College.

Representatives from many of the organizations were present Wednesday, along with Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz and state Secretary of Housing and Community Development Jay Ash, both of whom played roles in providing funding for the project.

Boston-area architect Clifford Boehmer got an earful at Thursday’s joint public hearing.

The Lumberyard has been in development for roughly four-and-a-half years, with predevelopment beginning in 2013, said Joanne Campbell, director of Valley CDC, during her remarks Wednesday. Campbell thanked the project’s many financial backers and contributors, saying that the “collaboration between so many people to make this work has been unbelievable.”

“I really want to thank all those supporters–too many to mention–for the advocacy and friendship during what was sometimes a hairy process,” Campbell said.

The project ran into snags during development, including the discovery of an 1847 storm water conduit that runs under the property that would have to be relocated. Funding for the relocation is being covered by MassWorks, a state infrastructure program.

Other setbacks included a lawsuit from an abutter that was later settled that claimed the project impinged on his property, as well as public complaints about the size and scale of the project during initial public meetings regarding the project.

However, if the building has been met with some pushback it has also been generously assisted by numerous organizations and individuals along the way, Campbell noted Wednesday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mayor David Narkewicz commended the project and described it as another important addition in a larger initiative to revitalize the Pleasant Street corridor. “This project is part of a larger commitment on the part of the city to make strategic public investments not only to support affordable housing but also economic development,” as well as to further develop “this important corridor to our city,” Narkewicz said.

The agenda to transform Pleasant Street has been an oft touted goal of Narkewicz, who stated earlier this year that the street was “an important gateway” to Northampton that would continue to be targeted for private investment and state grants.

The project will bring 55 affordable units and leverage improvements to Pleasant Street.

Narkewicz further stated Wednesday it had been a pleasure to work with Secretary Ash on the project.

Ash, whose office helped to secure the bulk of the funds for the project, said during his remarks Wednesday that he was excited to see the project completed. “This is an important project because it sends a message to the entire state that Northampton is a leader in affordability,” he said.

Ash further remarked that he had a personal connection to projects like this, seeing as he himself was a “beneficiary” of affordable housing and grew up in affordable housing in the Boston neighborhood of Chelsea during his early years. “I know just how important affordability can be for individuals and families, as well as for the community,” Ash said.

After construction is completed, a marketing campaign will be used to alert potential tenants some six months before the building is ready for occupancy, Campbell said. After accepting applications, applicants will be reviewed and interviewed, and qualifying candidates will participate in a lottery.

Campbell said she expects the marketing campaign will begin sometime during the Spring of 2019.

The Valley CDC also plans to move its central offices from their current locations on Market Street to a location adjacent to the apartment complex on Holyoke Street.

The myriad contributions and financial support that went towards realizing the project include a grant of $100,000 from Smith College’s affordable housing fund. The City of Northampton, meanwhile, provided $500,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds and Community Preservation Act funds. TD Bank is contributing to the project by providing tax credit equity, construction and permanent financing.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/11/northampton_lumber_yard_afford.html

SourceMassLive.com

$19M affordable housing project coming to Northampton

The Valley Community Development is investing $19 million to turn the former Northampton Lumber Company property into 55 affordable housing units and commercial space.

“So the majority of the units are affordable to people who earn between 50 and 60 percent of the median income, which means about $25,000 to $50,000 in income, based on household size,” said Joanne Campbell, Executive Director of Valley Community Development.

The project will house 55 families, one to three bedrooms apartments on four floors.

Twelve of those apartments will be for people earning 30 percent of the median income or less.

“So that’s for really low income households,” Campbell told 22News.

On Wednesday, more than 50 people gathered at the site, which is part of a larger project to revitalize the Pleasant Street Corridor, which is considered the gateway to downtown Northampton.

The city has invested a half a million dollars in the project.

“We’ve also invested significant grant money to do infrastructure work along the corridor, specifically moving storm water that affects this project,” said Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz.

Northampton has also built new raised crosswalks and curb extensions. The state invested $2.5 million of tax money in that project.

“It has a multiple benefit of providing affordable housing for the community, bringing some market rate housing to the community and also rehabbing a vacant space that has been kind of hoovering over the community,” said Jay Ash, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development.

The state provided the bulk of financing.

The entire project is expected to take about 18 months.

http://wwlp.com/2017/11/01/19m-affordable-housing-project-coming-to-northampton/

SourceWWLP

Multifamily Developer Breaks Ground On ‘Lean’ Pilot Project

Boston-based developer Urban Edge Housing Corp. broke ground Friday on the Walker Park apartments, a 49-unit, $17.5 million affordable rental housing complex in Roxbury’s Egleston Square.

Urban Edge is redeveloping three vacant parcels next to the Egleston Square Library into apartments restricted to households earning a maximum of 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), including eight units reserved for families earning no more than 30 percent of AMI.

The development is being built under the city’s Lean Pilot Project, which is designed to cut construction costs through coordination between the developer, architect and city officials from the early stages of the design process. Nearly 50 percent of the project’s subcontractors are minority-owned businesses and more than 22 percent are women-owned enterprises.

Financing for the project included $2.6 million from the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development and $3.46 million in state and federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.

Financing team members also include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Brookline Bank, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., MassDevelopment, MassHousing, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., Massachusetts Housing Partnership, US Bank Corp., and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The development is named for the late community activist Delphine Walker, whose home previously occupied one of the parcels. Walker Park Apartments will include 13 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom family apartments, an elevator for accessibility, on-site laundry facilities, on-site parking and a pocket park along Columbus Avenue.

Along with Urban Edge, the development team includes Prellwitz Chilinski Assoc. as architect and NEI General Contracting, Inc. as the general contractor.

SourceBanker & Tradesman

Boston Fund to Help Non-profit Developers Compete for Sites

Boston’s Mayor Martin J. Walsh recognizes the increasing need to provide affordable housing options in the city in order to preserve the diversity and character of Boston. The mayor’s office has partnered with the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to create the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund. The $8.5 million program is designed to provide financing options for nonprofit housing developers to acquire vacant and underutilized land and buildings for sites of affordable housing. Because private developers typically have the resources to pay cash and move more quickly than nonprofit organizations, the nonprofit developers struggle to compete for development sites; this program aims to provide nonprofit developers funding to acquire vacant and underutilized land in a competitive market. The nonprofit developers will be able to create mixed income, multi-family housing, preserving affordable housing options in the city.

The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund has three main components:

The City of Boston will provide site deposit assistance in the form of interest-free bridge loans up to $200,000.
The $8.5 million fund will provide quick approval for low-interest, long-term acquisition financing.
Because affordable housing typically takes longer to produce than market-rate housing, the City of Boston is providing interest-free loans up to $300,000 to defray the cost to nonprofit developers of holding the property for three- to five-year periods.

The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund is part of the mayor’s plan to combat the displacement of Boston residents, and it complements his citywide plan, Imagine Boston 2030, designed to encourage growth in a broad range of housing options in the city.

http://web20.nixonpeabody.com/ahrc/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=852&Title=Boston+Fund+to+Help+Nonprofit+Developers+Compete+for+Sites?Refer=email

SourceNixon Peabody Affordable Housing Blog

City, nonprofits turn focus on affordable housing

It’s no secret to agents, buyers and sellers in Boston that the city’s housing market is hot — sometimes a little too hot. With scarce inventory and increasing prices, many people find themselves sitting on the sidelines, unable to afford homes of their own.

To level the playing field, Mayor Martin J. Walsh recently announced the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund, which will help nonprofit developers acquire plots of underutilized land and buildings around the city.

Under the plan, affordable housing developers will be able to apply for loans to acquire such properties. The $8.5 million includes $2.5 million from the city and $6 million from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Besides acquisition of land with longer terms, the VSAF also has two other functions — it will offer short-term bridge loans to help developers put down deposits on land and loans of up to $300,000 at no interest to help developers hold properties for three to five years.

Property owners who take advantage of the program are required to maintain the tenancy of residents in good standing and to maintain affordable prices for at least 50 years.

https://bostonagentmagazine.com/2017/10/03/city-nonprofits-turn-focus-affordable-housing/

SourceBoston Agent Magazine

CEDAC provides predevelopment loans to housing in Lexington

The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation approved $341,500 in predevelopment financing to Pine Grove Village Inc. and Women’s Institute Realty Inc. for the preservation and production of affordable housing, respectively.

In Lexington, Pine Grove Village Inc. received a $130,000 predevelopment loan commitment from CEDAC for the preservation of Pine Grove Village, an existing resident-owned cooperative development. Originally constructed in 1976 with an affordability restriction, the coop residence requires five of the 16 units to be affordable to low-income families, with the remaining units affordable to moderate-income families.

Pine Grove Village Inc. will convert the 11 moderate income units to condominium ownership and transfer the five low-income condo units to the Lexington Housing Authority. New affordability restrictions will be established for the 16 units for 40 additional years under an innovative preservation plan.

For information: https://cedac.org.

http://lexington.wickedlocal.com/news/20171003/strongcedac-provides-predevelopment-loans-to-housing-in-lexington-strong

SourceWicked Local Lexington

Mayor Walsh Announces Vacant Site Acquisition Fund for Affordable Housing

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, along with partners Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), announced the creation of the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund, which will provide new financing options for nonprofit developers to acquire vacant and underutilized land and buildings for affordable housing development.

Using a $2.5 million investment from City funding to leverage $6 million in private funding provided by CEDAC and LISC, the Vacant Site Acquisition program is a critical part of the City’s anti-displacement strategy, and is designed to help nonprofit developers compete in Boston’s real estate market.

MAYOR WALSH

“Addressing rising housing costs is necessary for preserving the diversity and character that makes Boston a place where all residents can thrive; so we need to continue to think innovatively about ways to give Boston residents more affordable housing options,” said Mayor Walsh. “The Vacant Site Acquisition Program is another important tool in our affordable housing strategy. As our neighborhoods develop and change, it is vital that our nonprofit partners are able to compete in today’s real estate market to acquire developable sites. Boston is lucky to have strong lending partners like CEDAC and LISC who are joining us in fighting displacement by making housing more affordable to neighborhood residents.”

The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund establishes a pilot fund of more than $8 million to provide nonprofit developers with financing to acquire vacant land and underutilized buildings appropriate for the development of mixed income, multi-family housing. The program is a direct result of feedback from Boston’s affordable housing advocates and nonprofit partners, as the nonprofit development community needs the resources and tools to gain control of sites, and to help to preserve affordability in rapidly-changing neighborhoods. The program’s focus on acquiring eligible sites enables nonprofit developers to better compete in the market.

“CEDAC is pleased to partner with the City of Boston and LISC Boston to provide more opportunities for affordable housing development in Boston,” said Roger Herzog, the executive director of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation. “Under Mayor Walsh’s leadership, the City is taking action to help nonprofit developers successfully compete for developable land and we look forward to implementing this innovative strategy.”

“When the real estate market heats up, community-based developers of affordable housing can be priced out,” said LISC Boston Executive Director Bob Van Meter. “This tool helps them purchase vacant sites to create affordable homes where they are needed most.”

The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund has three components:

Site Deposit Assistance: The City is providing short-term bridge loans up to $200,000 at no interest to assist nonprofit developers in putting deposits on potential acquisition sites.
Acquisition Fund: A combined $8 million fund, using money contributed by the City, CEDAC, and LISC, will provide quick approval for low interest rate acquisition financing with longer terms to acquire sites and plan for future development.
Holding Cost Assistance: The City is providing up to $300,000 at no interest to provide loans that will help defray the cost to developers of holding property for a three to five year period. This funding is necessary because affordable housing can take longer to produce than market-rate housing due to the complexity of funding structures.

The City of Boston, CEDAC, and LISC have adopted a streamlined approval process so nonprofit developers can better compete in the private market. The day-to-day operations of the fund, including screening and selection of applications, will be overseen and managed by CEDAC.

The Vacant Site Acquisition Program is part of the Walsh Administration’s strategy to combat displacement and builds on the foundation of the City’s Acquisition Opportunity Program. The Acquisition Opportunity Program earmarked $7.5 million of Inclusionary Development funds to help responsible investor-owners acquire occupied, multi-family rental properties. Property owners assisted through the program are required to maintain the tenancies of residents in good standing and are also required to maintain affordable rent levels for the units in the property for a minimum of 50 years.

In addition, the City’s efforts to combat displacement and address rapidly changing neighborhoods included the launch of Boston’s first Office of Housing Stability, which provides residents no-cost, one-on-one assistance with issues around tenancy, and Mayor Walsh’s filing of a five-bill anti-displacement legislative package to help existing tenants remain in their home by expanding tenants’ rights, rewarding good landlords, and creating additional funding for affordable housing.

Today’s announcement ties into Imagine Boston 2030, Boston’s Citywide plan, which aims to proactively encourage a broad range of housing growth for people of all income levels and stages of life. For more information on Imagine Boston 2030, please visit imagine.boston.gov.

Applications for the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund are currently available, and can be submitted via CEDAC’s web site.

SourceBoston Real Estate Times

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