Tag: Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund

MassHousing Closes on $5.5 Million in Financing for 181 Chestnut Street in Chelsea

BOSTON– MassHousing has closed on a total of $5.5 million in affordable and workforce housing financing to the non-profit The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), to transform a formerly market-rate rental property at 181 Chestnut Street in Chelsea into a mixed-income housing community.

The MassHousing financing will allow TND to extend long-term affordability to households across a wide range of incomes, from very-low-income households to middle-income households.

“By converting existing market-rate apartments to affordable homes with long-lasting affordability protections, this transaction will help ensure that Chelsea residents facing rising rents will be able to continue living and working in this vibrant city,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. “TND is a mission-oriented housing developer, and MassHousing is pleased to partner with them on this exciting project.”

“Preserving a historic building as permanent affordable housing in Chelsea’s downtown will help advance long-term community goals and will keep families in stable and healthy housing through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic,” said The Neighborhood Developer’s Executive Director Rafael Mares. “We believe this project will also serve as a model for how community development corporations in Massachusetts can convert naturally occurring affordable housing into deed-restricted homes for low-income families.”

TND acquired the three-story brick and masonry building at 181 Chestnut Street in 2019. The MassHousing financing will allow TND to rent 30 of the previously unrestricted market-rate units to income-eligible households across a range of incomes, while two of the apartments will be rented at market rates.

Eight apartments will be subsidized with federal housing vouchers and restricted to households earning up to 30 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), and nine apartments will be restricted to households earning up to 60 percent of AMI. There will be 13 workforce housing units, of which six will be restricted to households earning up to 80 percent of AMI and seven for households earning up to 120 percent of AMI. The AMI for Chelsea is $119,000 for a family of four. None of the existing tenants will be displaced.

MassHousing is providing TND with a $4.9 million permanent loan and $650,000 in financing from the Agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative.

The transaction also involved $1 million in financing from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), $1.1 million from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which MassHousing manages on behalf of DHCD, approximately $1.5 million in state HOME funds, $700,000 in local HOME funds provided by the North Suburban Consortium through the Malden Redevelopment Authority, $640,000 in financing from the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), and $238,052 from a TND loan fund. CEDAC also provided $8.5 million in acquisition financing in partnership with LISC Boston’s Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund and supported by Partners HealthCare and other fund investors.

181 Chestnut Street advances the Baker-Polito Administration’s goal of creating at least 1,000 new workforce housing units affordable to middle-income households through MassHousing’s Workforce Housing Initiative. Since the inception of the initiative in 2016, MassHousing has committed or closed workforce housing financing totaling $116.5 million, to 54 projects, located in 22 cities and towns. To date, the Workforce Housing Initiative has advanced the development of 4,669 housing units across a range of incomes, including 1,308 middle-income workforce units.

181 Chestnut Street was originally built as a school and convent and was converted to housing in 2015. It is within walking distance to retail shops, restaurants and the city’s commuter rail station and serviced by multiple MBTA bus routes.

The property is managed by WinnCompanies.

MassHousing has financed seven rental housing communities in Chelsea totaling 640 units of housing with an overall original loan amount of $75.6 million. The Agency has also provided home mortgage loans to 754 homebuyers and homeowners in Chelsea with an original purchase principal balance of $90.5 million.

SourceBoston Real Estate Times

LISC Expands Funding for Affordable Housing Near Transit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Karen Kelleher, LISC Boston
617.410.4343 | kkelleher@lisc.org

Tia M. Vice, LISC Boston
617.410.4343 | tvice@lisc.org

LISC EXPANDS FUNDING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEAR TRANSIT
LISC is pleased to announce a new investment in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund

BOSTON (February 11, 2020) – Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is pleased to announce an increase in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF or the Fund).  The Fund is a revolving loan fund that has seeded the preservation or development of more than 1,500 apartments located near transit throughout Boston and Massachusetts since 2014, 72% of them affordable to low-income households.  The new investment will help the Fund support the development of more affordable housing with access to transit by providing critical early-stage financing.

Fund Background.  The Fund was created by LISCBoston, The Boston Foundation, and the Hyams Foundation in 2014 to provide developers of affordable housing with streamlined access to acquisition and predevelopment capital to acquire and advance key properties along transit corridors.  The foundations each invested $1.5 million for 10 years at a very low interest rate.  LISC paired that with a $1 million MassWorks grant from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, through MassDevelopment for a total revolving fund of $4 million.  LISC has leveraged that capital with $7 million of its own funds and a similar amount from other community development financial institutions.  The resulting $18 million of investment has seeded the acquisition and development of more than 1,500 apartments within walking distance of transit, 1,100 of them affordable to low-income tenants, and will attract over $400 million of additional investment.

Why Transit-Oriented Development?   ETODAF-funded projects must be located within a quarter to a half-mile of a subway, train or major bus line, to ensure that residents have equitable access to affordable transit, which usually translates to access to jobs, education, health care, shopping, services, and other critical resources and amenities.  Where done successfully by a community-focused developer, transit-oriented development also attracts businesses and jobs, maximizes existing infrastructure, and capitalizes on new investments to make neighborhoods more vibrant.   The Fund can be used throughout the Commonwealth, and has invested in thirteen different neighborhoods, empowering developers revitalizing their communities in some cases, and those staving off displacement in others.

The Fund’s Impact.   The Fund has seeded the development of 22 affordable or mixed-income apartment properties near transit, all of them by nonprofit developers and most by local community development corporations.  These developments will result in more than 1,500 housing units, with 72% of those units restricted as affordable for at least 30 years.  Construction and operation of the affordable units requires additional construction and permanent financing and subsidy, but ETODAF provides critical early-stage financing that enables fast action to acquire parcels and replaces the cash equity developers otherwise need to buy properties in a hot market and to finance the early, high-risk predevelopment costs that other lenders will not finance.  The Fund has invested in both rental and homeownership units, in new construction and preservation, and in diverse communities including Gateway Cities, suburban communities, and Boston neighborhoods.

Catalyzing Community-Based Development by Sharing Risk.  While most lenders will only lend a buyer 70 or 80 percent of the property’s value, ETODAF lends more than the property value to empower affordable developers to secure these critical parcels.  This means the Fund takes on some of the risk that a developer typically bears. This makes the Fund particularly useful for community-based nonprofit developers who lack cash reserves needed to put their own equity into an acquisition.  All of ETODAF’s borrowers to-date have been nonprofit organizations.  For-profit affordable housing developers are eligible to borrow from the Fund for eligible projects, but they would pay a higher interest rate.

New Investment in the Fund.  Partners HealthCare recently became the newest investor in the Fund, joining the two foundations as a low-cost investor, with a $1.5 million investment that matches the foundations’ initial investments, making it an equal investment partner. Partners HealthCare answered LISC’s call for an investor at this level to increase the fund’s impact quickly. The Fund has been fully deployed for some time, making new loans only when prior loans are repaid.  Partners stepped in because it understands how fundamental affordable, stable housing is to health. Its investment enables LISC to achieve even greater leverage with this small but impactful fund.

A Growing Partnership Between Health Care and Community Development. With this investment, Partners HealthCare joins a growing list of healthcare institutions nationally that are partnering with community development organizations like LISC to support healthy, economically strong families and communities. Partners HealthCare, like many health institutions, understands that as much as 80% of health outcomes are determined by social factors such as whether one has safe, affordable housing, economic stability, access to healthy food and opportunities for recreation.  These so-called social determinants of health are at the heart of comprehensive community development, the focus of LISC’s work for 40 years.  Partners joins ProMedica, Sentara Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Atrium Health and other health systems around the country working with LISC to coinvest in healthy communities.

Housing and Health Partnerships in Communities.   Most recently, the Fund invested, together with LISC and Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), in an acquisition loan to The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), a nonprofit community development corporation that works in Chelsea, Revere and Everett.  TND used the financing to purchase 181 Chestnut Street, a 32-unit market-rate multifamily building in Chelsea near Bellingham Square, on the MBTA’s Silver Line.  Given the pace of development in the neighborhood, the building would otherwise have sold to a profit-motivated purchaser who would likely have raised the existing below-market rents, resulting in displacement or financial instability for the existing tenants.

Instead, TND will make modest repairs and commit to keeping most of the units affordable long-term to tenants of low- and moderate-income levels.  The Fund and LISC provided flexible, low-cost capital via a participation in a loan originated by CEDAC, a public-private community development finance institution.  The Fund’s investment would not have been possible without the recent infusion of capital from Partners.  Partners was particularly excited for the Fund to support stable, affordable housing in Chelsea where it is deeply invested at a property that is walking distance from the Mass General Hospital’s Chelsea HealthCare Center.

According to LISC Executive Director Karen Kelleher, there is great demand for additional flexible, low-cost financing for properties like this one, particularly where the city or town is willing to invest public dollars to support long-term affordability.  “The Commonwealth, particularly Greater Boston, is facing both a housing affordability crisis and a transit crisis.  We are eager to work with more civic leaders like Partners to step up and invest in solutions that prioritize community health and equity and link housing and transit.”

“Developing and protecting affordable housing within reach of transit is a game-changer for thousands of people in Greater Boston,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “These developments not only provide and sustain affordable housing that is so critical for individuals, workers and families, they also provide easier access to jobs and services that have a powerful impact on quality of life. We welcome Partners’ addition to the Fund.”

###

About LISC

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) provides grants, financing, and technical assistance to community development corporations (CDCs), nonprofit developers, grassroots organizations, as well as policy and advocacy organizations throughout Massachusetts. Working with local leaders, we invest in affordable housing, health, education, public safety and employment. As part of a national organization with deep local roots, LISC Boston is uniquely positioned to share resources, develop best practices, and craft innovations with the communities we serve. To learn more, visit http://www.lisc.org/boston .

About The Boston Foundation

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, seeks to bring the collective power of our region’s people and resources together to drive real change. Established in 1915, it is one of the largest community foundations in the nation—with net assets of $1.3 billion. In 2019, the Foundation received $151 million in contributions and the Foundation and its donors paid $153 million in grants to nonprofit organizations. The Foundation has many partners, including its donors, who have established more than 1,000 separate charitable funds for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. With support from the Annual Campaign for Civic Leadership, the Foundation also facilitates public discourse and action, commissions research into the most critical issues of our time and advocates for public policy that advances opportunity for everyone.

About The Hyams Foundation

The Hyams Foundation is a private, independent foundation with a mission of increasing economic, racial and social justice and power within low-income communities in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts. Our vision for the future is a society in which systems and structures are transformed to create the conditions for increased collective well-being and produce equitable power, access, opportunities and outcomes, regardless of race.  For more about Hyams, visit www.hyamsfoundation.org .

About Partners HealthCare

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of coordinated and high-quality care. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the system includes community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, a physician network, community health centers, home health and long-term care services, and other health care entities. Partners is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Partners is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

About The Neighborhood Developers

The Neighborhood Developers (TND) promotes economic diversity, opportunity and quality of life in struggling communities. TND’s mission is to bring its core strengths—building homes, engaging neighbors, and fostering economic mobility—to community partnerships that create great neighborhoods where all people can thrive. Our work deepens the impact and scale our strengths through strategic growth, community leadership, strong partnerships, and refined programming. For additional information on TND, please visit https://theneighborhooddevelopers.org/ .

About CEDAC

CEDAC is a public-private community development finance institution that provides financial resources and technical expertise for community-based and other non-profit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts. CEDAC’s work supports two key building blocks of community development: affordable housing and early care and education.  CEDAC is also active in state and national housing preservation policy research and development and is widely recognized as a leader in the non-profit community development industry. For additional information on CEDAC and its current projects, please visit www.cedac.org .

SourceLISC Boston

Local Initiatives Support Corporation Expands Funding for Affordable Housing Near Transit

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) announced an increase in the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF or the Fund).

The Fund is a revolving loan fund that has seeded the preservation or development of more than 1,500 apartments located near transit throughout Boston and Massachusetts since 2014, 72% of them affordable to low-income households.  The new investment will help the Fund support the development of more affordable housing with access to transit by providing critical early-stage financing.

Fund Background

The Fund was created by LISCBoston, The Boston Foundation, and the Hyams Foundation in 2014 to provide developers of affordable housing with streamlined access to acquisition and predevelopment capital to acquire and advance key properties along transit corridors.  The foundations each invested $1.5 million for 10 years at a very low interest rate.  LISC paired that with a $1 million MassWorks grant from the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, through MassDevelopment for a total revolving fund of $4 million.

LISC has leveraged that capital with $7 million of its own funds and a similar amount from other community development financial institutions.  The resulting $18 million of investment has seeded the acquisition and development of more than 1,500 apartments within walking distance of transit, 1,100 of them affordable to low-income tenants, and will attract over $400 million of additional investment.

Why Transit-Oriented Development?

ETODAF-funded projects must be located within a quarter to a half-mile of a subway, train or major bus line, to ensure that residents have equitable access to affordable transit, which usually translates to access to jobs, education, health care, shopping, services, and other critical resources and amenities.  Where done successfully by a community-focused developer, transit-oriented development also attracts businesses and jobs, maximizes existing infrastructure, and capitalizes on new investments to make neighborhoods more vibrant.

The Fund can be used throughout the Commonwealth, and has invested in thirteen different neighborhoods, empowering developers revitalizing their communities in some cases, and those staving off displacement in others.

The Fund’s Impact

The Fund has seeded the development of 22 affordable or mixed-income apartment properties near transit, all of them by nonprofit developers and most by local community development corporations.  These developments will result in more than 1,500 housing units, with 72% of those units restricted as affordable for at least 30 years.  Construction and operation of the affordable units requires additional construction and permanent financing and subsidy, but ETODAF provides critical early-stage financing that enables fast action to acquire parcels and replaces the cash equity developers otherwise need to buy properties in a hot market and to finance the early, high-risk predevelopment costs that other lenders will not finance.

The Fund has invested in both rental and homeownership units, in new construction and preservation, and in diverse communities including Gateway Cities, suburban communities, and Boston neighborhoods.

Catalyzing Community-Based Development by Sharing Risk

While most lenders will only lend a buyer 70 or 80 percent of the property’s value, ETODAF lends more than the property value to empower affordable developers to secure these critical parcels.  This means the Fund takes on some of the risk that a developer typically bears. This makes the Fund particularly useful for community-based nonprofit developers who lack cash reserves needed to put their own equity into an acquisition.  All of ETODAF’s borrowers to-date have been nonprofit organizations.  For-profit affordable housing developers are eligible to borrow from the Fund for eligible projects, but they would pay a higher interest rate.

New Investment in the Fund

Partners HealthCare recently became the newest investor in the Fund, joining the two foundations as a low-cost investor, with a $1.5 million investment that matches the foundations’ initial investments, making it an equal investment partner. Partners HealthCare answered LISC’s call for an investor at this level to increase the fund’s impact quickly. The Fund has been fully deployed for some time, making new loans only when prior loans are repaid.  Partners stepped in because it understands how fundamental affordable, stable housing is to health. Its investment enables LISC to achieve even greater leverage with this small but impactful fund.

A Growing Partnership Between Health Care and Community Development

With this investment, Partners HealthCare joins a growing list of healthcare institutions nationally that are partnering with community development organizations like LISC to support healthy, economically strong families and communities. Partners HealthCare, like many health institutions, understands that as much as 80% of health outcomes are determined by social factors such as whether one has safe, affordable housing, economic stability, access to healthy food and opportunities for recreation.  These so-called social determinants of health are at the heart of comprehensive community development, the focus of LISC’s work for 40 years.  Partners joins ProMedica, Sentara Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, Atrium Health and other health systems around the country working with LISC to coinvest in healthy communities.

Housing and Health Partnerships in Communities

Most recently, the Fund invested, together with LISC and Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC), in an acquisition loan to The Neighborhood Developers, Inc. (TND), a nonprofit community development corporation that works in Chelsea, Revere and Everett.  TND used the financing to purchase 181 Chestnut Street, a 32-unit market-rate multifamily building in Chelsea near Bellingham Square, on the MBTA’s Silver Line.  Given the pace of development in the neighborhood, the building would otherwise have sold to a profit-motivated purchaser who would likely have raised the existing below-market rents, resulting in displacement or financial instability for the existing tenants.

Instead, TND will make modest repairs and commit to keeping most of the units affordable long-term to tenants of low- and moderate-income levels.  The Fund and LISC provided flexible, low-cost capital via a participation in a loan originated by CEDAC, a public-private community development finance institution.  The Fund’s investment would not have been possible without the recent infusion of capital from Partners.  Partners was particularly excited for the Fund to support stable, affordable housing in Chelsea where it is deeply invested at a property that is walking distance from the Mass General Hospital’s Chelsea HealthCare Center.

According to LISC Executive Director Karen Kelleher, there is great demand for additional flexible, low-cost financing for properties like this one, particularly where the city or town is willing to invest public dollars to support long-term affordability.  “The Commonwealth, particularly Greater Boston, is facing both a housing affordability crisis and a transit crisis.  We are eager to work with more civic leaders like Partners to step up and invest in solutions that prioritize community health and equity and link housing and transit.”

“Developing and protecting affordable housing within reach of transit is a game-changer for thousands of people in Greater Boston,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “These developments not only provide and sustain affordable housing that is so critical for individuals, workers and families, they also provide easier access to jobs and services that have a powerful impact on quality of life. We welcome Partners’ addition to the Fund.”

SourceBoston Real Estate Times

New housing opens in Hyde Park, Affordable development is first in 20 yrs

It took the Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation more than 20 years to see its 27-unit all-affordable housing building through to completion, so when Mayor Martin Walsh and leadership from the organization cut the ribbon on the development last Thursday, it was a big deal.

The Residences at Fairmount Station is a $12 million four-story building nestled between the Fairmount Station commuter rail stop and Fairmount Avenue, with 24 of its units affordable to families earning 60 percent of the area median income or below. The building contains a mixture of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units.

The development faced fierce pushback from Hyde Park residents when it was first proposed during the late 1990s, said SBCDC board member Diana Kelley.

“The community voted it down,” she said.

Then-Mayor Thomas Menino’s administration did not push for the development, which the CDC had originally proposed for another site, but instead steered the project to the Fairmount site, at that time a collection of dilapidated industrial buildings. That move kicked off a nearly-10-year process during which the CDC pieced together the parcel of land from private owners and the MBTA, while at the same time negotiating with neighbors over issues including the size of the building and the amount of parking.

“I don’t know that you can build affordable housing in any neighborhood and not encounter some opposition,” Kelley said. “What’s important is that we were able to get some compromises.”

Among the compromises, plans were altered to include three units available for families earning up to 70 percent of the area median income, up from 60 percent. A playground that abutters felt was too close to the MBTA tracks was moved to the opposite side of the building.

The end result is a building affordable to households earning $21,000 to $58,000, said SBCDC Board President Mimi Turchinetz, addressing elected officials and neighborhood residents gathered for the ribbon cutting Thursday.

“The units are affordable to the majority of residents of Hyde Park,” she noted.

Demand for the units is substantial, with more than 2,700 applications submitted for the 27 available units.

“The need for affordable housing that’s kid-friendly is enormous,” Turchinetz said.

Mayor Martin Walsh said the building fits into the city’s goals to increase the amount of affordable housing available as rents increase in neighborhoods along the Fairmount Line Corridor — the commuter rail line that cuts through Hyde Park, Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury, with new stops in many of those neighborhoods.

Walsh administration officials hope the transit line will spur new economic development in the southwestern part of the city.

“We want inclusive development,” Walsh said. “We want transit-oriented development. We want development without displacement.”

Walsh said the new building would also support businesses in the Cleary Square commercial district in Hyde Park.

“You can’t have a thriving business district if you don’t have people there,” he said.

The affordable development was made possible in part by a City of Boston contribution of more than $1.7 million. This contribution enabled the development team to take advantage of more than $2.5 million from the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. The state also provided an allocation of almost $1.5 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that helped raise over $4.7 million in equity from National Equity Fund, the equity investor in the project. Webster Bank provided a construction loan, with MassHousing providing long-term permanent financing. The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation and the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund at LISC Boston provided critical pre-development and acquisition funding to secure the site.

SourceBay State Banner

Mayor Walsh, Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation, Traggorth Companies and residents celebrate opening of the Residences at Fairmount Station

Mayor Martin J. Wash today joined Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation, Traggorth Companies, elected officials and residents to celebrate the grand opening of The Residences at Fairmount Station. This once vacant property is now a transit-oriented residential development that offers 27 rental units, including 24 affordable units. The project is part of a larger City effort to prioritize affordable development along the Fairmont Corridor, one of the action areas outlined in Imagine Boston 2030 with the goal of expanding opportunities and reducing disparities for residents in the area.

“Today we celebrate a milestone in our efforts to create more affordable housing by officially opening The Residences at Fairmount Station, which sets the standard for all transit-oriented development in the city,” said Mayor Walsh. “I’m proud that with our partners we were able to create 27 rental homes for Boston’s working families. This new development will continue to keep Hyde Park a strong and vibrant neighborhood for generations to come.”  

The $12 million four-story building features a combination of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. Out of the 27 rental units, 24 are affordable to households at or below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), which is around $51,000 for a two-income household. The remaining three units are designated for households at or below 70 percent AMI, or around $60,000 for a two-income household. The development also offers 6,000 square feet of green space and play space, a public community room, and parking spaces and bike spaces.

“This lot used to be overgrown with weeds and falling down buildings,” said Hyde Park resident Nicole Wiggins. “It is wonderful to see investment in our community that creates affordable housing, playgrounds, and community spaces that will benefit current Hyde Park residents.”

The project is LEED Silver Certified and has many green features for long-term operations, sustainability, and includes several improvements such as new sidewalks, handicap accessible ramps, benches, lighting, bike racks, and a playground. The building was designed by DMS Design, constructed by Delphi Construction, and will be managed by Maloney Properties. Southwest Boston CDC will provide ongoing services to residents.

“We have long advocated for equitable investment along the Fairmount Corridor, and we could not be more thrilled that through community persistence and support from Mayor Walsh, we have succeeded,” said Mimi Turchinetz, board chair of Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation, one of the joint venture partners on the project. “By providing residents with high-quality affordable housing, safe and beautiful play spaces, and access to transit, we make Hyde Park more beautiful while also providing Hyde Park families with much needed stability.”

“It’s been a pleasure working with Southwest Boston CDC to bring a shared vision for equitable transit oriented development to life,” said Dave Traggorth, Principal of Traggorth Companies, the second partner in the joint venture to build the project. “Their tireless advocacy, along with the critical resources from the City of Boston and the Commonwealth, has created beautiful, affordable homes for Hyde Park families. We hope this project sets the standard for the neighborhood, and is just the beginning of an exciting chapter.”

The new development has been made possible in part by a City of Boston contribution of more than $1.7 million. This contribution enabled the development team to take advantage of more than $2.5 million from the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development. The State also provided an allocation of almost $1.5 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that helped raise over $4.7 million in equity from National Equity Fund, the equity investor in the project. Webster Bank provided a construction loan with MassHousing providing long-term permanent financing. The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF) at LISC Boston provided critical predevelopment and acquisition funding to secure the site.

The Residences at Fairmont Station consist of affordable units to low- and middle-class families and strongly aligns with the City’s housing goals outlined in Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030. Mayor Walsh recently increased the City’s overall housing targets from 53,000 to 69,000 new units by 2030 to meet Boston’s population growth. These updated housing goals build on Mayor Walsh’s commitment to increasing access to home ownership, preventing displacement and promoting fair and equitable housing access.

Since the release of the original Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030 plan in 2014, income-restricted housing stock, designed to increase affordable housing, has grown along with overall new production: nearly 20 percent of housing units are income restricted, and 25 percent of rental units are income restricted. In total, after creating an additional 15,820 units of income-restricted housing, Boston will have nearly 70,000 units of income-restricted housing by 2030.

These income-restricted units will include purchasing 1,000 rental housing units from the speculative market and income-restricting them through an expanded Acquisition Opportunity Program. In addition, the City will soon announce awardees of an affordable housing funding round that includes more than $16 million in city affordable housing funds, and the first large scale awards of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding for affordable housing development projects.

For more information on the City’s work to create more housing, please visit: Housing A Changing City: Boston 2030.

SourceSampan

Residences at Fairmount Station Opens With Celebration in Hyde Park

Mayor Martin J. Wash today joined Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation, Traggorth Companies, elected officials and residents to celebrate the grand opening of The Residences at Fairmount Station. This once-vacant property is now a transit-oriented residential development that offers 27 rental units, including 24 affordable units. The project is part of a larger City effort to prioritize affordable development along the Fairmont Corridor, one of the action areas outlined in Imagine Boston 2030 with the goal of expanding opportunities and reducing disparities for residents in the area.

The Residences at Fairmount Station opened

“Today we celebrate a milestone in our efforts to create more affordable housing by officially opening The Residences at Fairmount Station, which sets the standard for all transit-oriented development in the city,” said Mayor Walsh. “I’m proud that with our partners we were able to create 27 rental homes for Boston’s working families. This new development will continue to keep Hyde Park a strong and vibrant neighborhood for generations to come.”

The $12 million four-story building features a combination of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. Out of the 27 rental units, 24 are affordable to households at or below 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), which is around $51,000 for a two-income household. The remaining three units are designated for households at or below 70 percent AMI, or around $60,000 for a two-income household. The development also offers 6,000 square feet of green space and play space, a public community room, and parking spaces and bike spaces.

“This lot used to be overgrown with weeds and falling down buildings,” said Hyde Park resident Nicole Wiggins. “It is wonderful to see investment in our community that creates affordable housing, playgrounds, and community spaces that will benefit current Hyde Park residents.”

The project is LEED Silver Certified and has many green features for long-term operations, sustainability, and includes several improvements such as new sidewalks, handicap accessible ramps, benches, lighting, bike racks, and a playground. The building was designed by DMS Design, constructed by Delphi Construction, and will be managed by Maloney Properties. Southwest Boston CDC will provide ongoing services to residents.

“We have long advocated for equitable investment along the Fairmount Corridor, and we could not be more thrilled that through community persistence and support from Mayor Walsh, we have succeeded,” said Mimi Turchinetz, board chair of Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation, one of the joint venture partners on the project. “By providing residents with high-quality affordable housing, safe and beautiful play spaces, and access to transit, we make Hyde Park more beautiful while also providing Hyde Park families with much needed stability.”

“It’s been a pleasure working with Southwest Boston CDC to bring a shared vision for equitable transit oriented development to life,” said Dave Traggorth, Principal of Traggorth Companies, the second partner in the joint venture to build the project. “Their tireless advocacy, along with the critical resources from the City of Boston and the Commonwealth, has created beautiful, affordable homes for Hyde Park families. We hope this project sets the standard for the neighborhood, and is just the beginning of an exciting chapter.”

The new development has been made possible in part by a City of Boston contribution of more than $1.7 million. This contribution enabled the development team to take advantage of more than $2.5 million from the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development. The State also provided an allocation of almost $1.5 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that helped raise over $4.7 million in equity from National Equity Fund, the equity investor in the project. Webster Bank provided a construction loan with MassHousing providing long-term permanent financing. The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Accelerator Fund (ETODAF) at LISC Boston provided critical predevelopment and acquisition funding to secure the site.

The Residences at Fairmont Station consist of affordable units to low- and middle-class families and strongly aligns with the City’s housing goals outlined in Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030. Mayor Walsh recently increased the City’s overall housing targets from 53,000 to 69,000 new units by 2030 to meet Boston’s population growth. These updated housing goals build on Mayor Walsh’s commitment to increasing access to home ownership, preventing displacement and promoting fair and equitable housing access.

Since the release of the original Housing a Changing City: Boston 2030 plan in 2014, income-restricted housing stock, designed to increase affordable housing, has grown along with overall new production: nearly 20 percent of housing units are income restricted, and 25 percent of rental units are income restricted. In total, after creating an additional 15,820 units of income-restricted housing, Boston will have nearly 70,000 units of income-restricted housing by 2030.

These income-restricted units will include purchasing 1,000 rental housing units from the speculative market and income-restricting them through an expanded Acquisition Opportunity Program. In addition, the City will soon announce awardees of an affordable housing funding round that includes more than $16 million in city affordable housing funds, and the first large scale awards of Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding for affordable housing development projects.

For more information on the City’s work to create more housing, please visit: Housing A Changing City: Boston 2030.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST BOSTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

The Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation (SWBCDC) works to build and sustain a thriving, racially and economically equitable community in Hyde Park and Roslindale. We work to prevent displacement, create and preserve affordable housing, strengthen the commercial base of the neighborhoods, ensure access to good transit and green spaces, and develop local leaders whose voices are not otherwise heard. For more information, please visit swbcdc.org

ABOUT TRAGGORTH COMPANIES

Based in Boston, Traggorth Companies works to execute mid-sized smart growth, urban infill multifamily projects working collaboratively with communities to balance affordability, tenure, historic preservation, and economic development. For more information, please visit traggorthcompanies.com

SourceCity of Boston Neighborhood Development