Tag: urban edge

Construction Begins on Holtzer Park Project

Construction has begun on an unutilized Boston Housing Authority (BHA) parcel that will result in 62 new units of affordable housing.

Mayor Martin Walsh made the announcement earlier this week that the Urban Edge Housing Corporation has broken ground at the new Holtzer Park housing development in Jackson Square.

Mayor Walsh said the new project is part of the BHA’s 125 Amory Street phased redevelopment project in Jackson Square. The development is a joint venture between The Community Builders (TCB), Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC), and Urban Edge to renovate and preserve 199 public housing units as affordable housing. The project will also repurpose BHA administrative offices into 12 new affordable units, and build approximately 133 units of affordable housing and 214 market-rate apartments in three new buildings on adjacent BHA-owned property.

“It’s great to see the start of construction at the Holtzer Park housing development, which will create many new and affordable homes here in Jackson Square,” said Walsh. “Projects like these are part of our overall strategy to increase the availability of affordable housing in the city, and I want to thank Urban Edge and our partners for their work to make these new homes possible.”

According to BHA Administrator Kate Bennett, Holtzer Park will create 41 affordable units for households whose income is less than $76,740 for a family of 4 and are supported with Low Income Housing Tax Credits. An additional 21 of these units will have project-based vouchers to provide even deeper affordability for households whose income is less than $38,350 for a family of 4.

“It’s exciting to see underutilized BHA land transformed into such an important use for dozens of low-income families,” said BHA Administrator t. “We are forging exciting opportunities in Jackson Square and I am grateful to all of our partners and staff that have made this happen.”

Holtzer Park is named for the Holtzer-Cabot Electric Company, where a variety of electrical devices were manufactured. In 1970, BHA converted the building into senior housing.

“It is exciting to begin construction at Holtzer Park, which will bring much-needed, high-quality affordable housing to Jackson Square,” said Emilio Dorcely, CEO of Urban Edge. “Jackson Square has undergone a transformation over the last several years, but because of the hard work of our partners at the City of Boston,  Boston Housing Authority, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, and The Community Builders, current residents are benefitting from those changes. We look forward to being able to celebrate the opening of Holtzer Park – and 62 new affordable homes – in person, when it is safe to do so.”

Last year, the Boston Planning and Development Agency voted to extend Jackson Square Partners, LLC status as tentative designated developer for the Jackson Square Master Plan project–a mixed use development in Jackson Square of largely vacant public and privately owned land where the Jamaica Plain and Roxbury communities meet.

Since the BPDA’s plan to revitalize this area of Jackson Square began over a decade ago several milestones have been completed by Jackson Square Partners, LLC.

Already the development team has completed Jackson Commons. This project cost more than $21 million and consists of a 37 unit, mixed-use and mixed income housing development near the Jackson Square MBTA stop. The development is more than 10,000 square feet of ground floor retail, as well as 2,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. The redevelopment consisted of the adaptive re-use and renovation of the 100 year old, three story, 23,600 square foot Webb Building. The residential unit mix includes 25 two-bedrooms, 7 one bedrooms and 5 three-bedrooms.  Eight units are reserved for homeless/formerly homeless residents while the remaining 29 units are affordable units.

The city and developer recently celebrated the groundbreaking of 75 Amory Ave. This development kicked off the third phase of a $16 million development that will create 39 units of affordable housing for families. The project also secured $200,000 from the EPA in the form of brownfields grant for the remediation of the former industrial sites next to Jackson Commons at 1542 Columbus Avenue in Roxbury. This land will be transformed into a recreation center for the neighborhood.

Walsh and the BHA said in accordance with the City of Boston’s Green Affordable Housing Program, Holtzer Park will utilize a high-efficiency heating system and building envelope, as well as Energy Star-rated appliances. The development will employ environmentally friendly design features throughout and will meet the U.S. Green Building Council LEED Homes Gold certifiable standard. The housing development will also meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standards. The development team is made up of Urban Edge, ICON Architecture, and NEI General Contracting.

Walsh said Holtzer Park has been made possible in part by more than $2.71 million in funding from the City of Boston, $750,000 in Neighborhood Housing Trust, as well as more than $15.8 million in State and Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Financing team members also include the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, MassDevelopment, MassHousing, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Citizens Bank, Massachusetts Housing Partnership,  the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Boston Private, The Life Initiative, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“This project is a fantastic example of how our strong non-profit partners like Urban Edge are able to layer multiple state, federal, and local funding sources to create opportunities for our families,” said Housing and Community Development Undersecretary Jennifer Maddox. “We are excited to see the Baker-Polito Administration’s investments in the neighborhood, through MassWorks Infrastructure funding, MassDevelopment’s Brownfields program and our own affordable housing awards help advance this great work.”

SourceJamaica Plains Gazette

Walker Park Apartments and Delphine’s Courtyard Opened

Mayor Martin J. Walsh today joined the community development agency Urban Edge, elected officials, community leaders and neighbors to celebrate the opening of the Walker Park Apartments and Delphine’s Courtyard, consisting of 49 units of affordable family housing and a pocket park in Egleston Square. The City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development and the Community Preservation Fund provided more than $2.8 million in total for the new homes and courtyard.

“Today we celebrate the creation of 49 new affordable homes, a crucial step forward in our goal of preserving our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Walsh. “Along with our partners, the City of Boston is making big investments in Egleston Square, increasing opportunity for families and helping us keep housing affordable and accessible. I want to thank Urban Edge and everyone involved in this project for their work in making these new affordable homes possible.”

Mayor Walsh with members of the Walker family.

Mayor Walsh with members of the Walker family.

The Walker Park Apartments redeveloped three formerly vacant or underutilized parcels adjacent to the Egleston Square Branch of the Boston Public Library and in the Egleston Square Main Street District. The development is named for longtime community activist Delphine Walker, whose home stood on one of the development sites. All of the 49 new apartments have been rented to households who earn at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), including eight apartments reserved for families earning 30 percent of AMI or below.

“Urban Edge is proud that we have led investment in Egleston Square and is doing so in a way that honors the neighborhood’s past while providing more opportunities for quality housing for members of the community,” said Natacha Dunker, president of Urban Edge’s Board of Directors. “We are so grateful to Mayor Walsh, the Department of Neighborhood Development, and all of our funders for their support of this important project.”

“Today, we celebrate another victory for our city and community: new construction of 49 income-restricted units and 34 off-street parking spots,” said State Representative Liz Malia (D-11th Suffolk). “This is exactly the type of housing we need to build in Boston and specifically in the Egleston Square Neighborhood. The face of our community depends on it, and I’m  grateful to Urban Edge and the City for having the long-term vision to realize this project and others like it.”

The Walker Park Apartments now boast 13 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom, and eight three-bedroom family apartments, an elevator for accessibility, on-site laundry facilities, on-site parking, and Delphine’s Courtyard funded by the Community Preservation Fund. In accordance with state guidelines, funds generated from the Community Preservation Act fund for affordable housing, historic preservation, and parks and open space projects.

“My mother bought her home in Roxbury at a time when many people were not making investments in this community, and she worked with others to strengthen Egleston Square as a neighborhood,” said Pamela Walker, daughter of Delphine Walker. “We are so grateful that Urban Edge has honored her by naming both the apartment complex and the courtyard after her.”

“Since I moved to Walker Park, my life feels different. I can see how my children always have a smile on their faces,” said Cassandra Amazan, a resident of Walker Park Apartments. “It was a great feeling seeing them choosing their own room and making plans of how they would decorate them. It is not only about having or walking in to my own apartment now, it’s about feeling accomplished in many ways and that this is opening new doors for me and my family.”

In accordance with the City of Boston’s Green Affordable Housing Program, Walker Park Apartments will utilize a high-efficiency heating system as well as Energy Star rated appliances. The development employs environmentally friendly design features that meets the U.S. Green Building Council LEED Homes Silver certifiable standard. The development also met the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star standards. The development team is made up of Urban Edge, Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, and NEI General Contracting, Inc.

The Walker Park Apartments have been made possible by funding from the City of Boston, and State and Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Financing team members also included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Brookline Bank, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, MassDevelopment, MassHousing, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, Massachusetts Housing Partnership, US Bank Corporation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Walker Park Apartments 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.

Mayor Walsh’s 2019 housing security legislative package focuses on expanding upon the work that Boston has done to address the region’s affordable housing crisis and displacement risks for tenants by proposing new and strengthening current tools to leverage Boston’s prosperity and create sustainable wealth opportunities that make Boston a more inclusive and equitable city. The housing security bills proposed seek to help existing tenants, particularly the elderly, remain in their homes, and creates additional funding for affordable housing.

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

###Delp

SourceMayor's Office

A Housing Monument to Roxbury Activist

When Urban Edge began planning our latest affordable housing in Egleston Square, we knew exactly who we wanted to name the new buildings after – Delphine Walker. Walker was a legendary resident of Roxbury and a committed community activist.

She invested her heart and soul into Egleston Square, where she lived for two decades – to this day, people remember the importance of the Hands Around Egleston Square events, which she established with Fr. Jack Roussin, bringing the community together to address the challenges that residents faced. We knew that it was appropriate to honor her as we made a new commitment to our neighborhood.

In the last few months, residents have begun to move into Walker Park Apartments. As a nonprofit community development corporation, we can tell you it takes a lot of patience and support to build 49 new units across two buildings, but the payoff happens when we see families and individuals moving into their new homes. Residents are now living in the first building, though we have to wait a little more for people to move into the second building – like other developers, the National Grid lockout and subsequent backlog is delaying on our ability to open the second building.

Nevertheless, we are excited about what this new development – and the new pocket park, Delphine’s Courtyard, one of the first projects to be funded by the city of Boston through the Community Preservation Act – will mean to the neighborhood. When totally complete, Walker Park Apartments will feature new transit-oriented apartments located close to the MBTA and bus routes. All of the new apartments will be rented to individuals who are earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), with 11 of the families earning 30 percent of AMI or below.  The development includes 13 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom and 8 three-bedroom family units, elevators for accessibility, on-site laundry facilities, beautiful outdoor space in Delphine’s Courtyard along Columbus Avenue. The project cost $18.4 million to build.

From Homelessness to Housing Security

We are proud to lead the way in reinvestment in Egleston Square and to work with our partners to redevelop underutilized parcels in ways that benefit the community. We know how much this kind of housing is needed in Roxbury and elsewhere in Boston. Among our new residents is a young, formerly homeless working mother who is working in a dental office as a receptionist. Another is a mother of three children who works as an administrative assistant and who previously lived in a homeless shelter for about two years. One of our new residents is a disabled individual whose daily life is improved by living for the first time in a fully accessible apartment and building.

This is why we do what we do – and what we have done for more than 40 years. Hard-working families in Boston need safe, quality affordable housing and we are happy to work with our partners to provide it.

Marty Jones

Of course, this kind of housing doesn’t happen without a lot of support. Bank of America, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., MassDevelopment, Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., the commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and the city of Boston all provided financing for the project.  And we worked with a great general contractor – NEI General Contracting – to build the new development.

Like so much of the rest of the city, Egleston Square is changing. There are new pressures and finding ways to develop affordable housing isn’t always easy. But our mission has always been to strengthen the neighborhood we’ve called home for more than four decades and to support the residents who live and work here. We’re so pleased to have the opportunity to honor our roots and the fearless work of Delphine Walker and her family by providing quality new units of permanently affordable housing.  In doing so, we feel we are able to carry on her legacy.

Marty Jones is Urban Edge Inc.’s interim CEO.

SourceBanker & Tradesman

New Tool in the Fight for Boston’s Affordability

Public-Private Partnership Creates Fund to Support Nonprofit Development

By Roger Herzog and Sara Barcan

Special to Banker & Tradesman

As observers of the Boston real estate market know, our historic city is heavily “built out,” with relatively few opportunities to develop vacant parcels. While the charm of our densely built city means there is great demand to live here, the relative scarcity and high cost of available development sites present a challenge to policymakers and the community development sector who seek to increase the stock of Boston’s affordable housing. Nonprofit developers tell us that when they identify vacant or underutilized parcels with potential for affordable housing development, they frequently have difficulty competing for acquisition against private developers, and when they can acquire, may need to hold sites for several years before they can assemble project financing and move into construction.

Last year, our colleagues at the city of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) approached CEDAC and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Boston) with an idea for an acquisition fund that could help level the playing field for nonprofits: the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund. This fund targets sites that are often sources of neighborhood blight. CEDAC has long helped nonprofit developers acquire sites that are both eyesores and in need of cleanup and our participation in the Vacant Site Acquisition Fund is an extension of that work.

 

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, along with CEDAC and LISC Boston, announced the creation of the fund last fall. Its program design resulted directly from conversations that DND, CEDAC and LISC conducted with nonprofit housing developers and reflects their priorities: a predictable, competitive interest rate; a longer loan term than typical acquisition loans; a streamlined approval process; and assistance with site control and holding costs.

The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund established a pilot funding source of more than $8 million to help nonprofit developers purchase vacant or underutilized land appropriate for the development of multifamily housing. The city has committed $2.5 million, while CEDAC and LISC Boston have provided a combined $6 million. CEDAC manages the day-to-day operations of the fund, which has an efficient “one-stop” approval process enabling nonprofit developers to better compete in the private market.

The fund has three components:

· Site deposit assistance: DND has set aside $200,000 for short-term, zero interest bridge loans, available to nonprofit developers who need to make cash deposits to secure site control of potential acquisition sites.

· Acquisition fund: A combined $8 million contributed by the city, CEDAC, and LISC Boston funds low interest rate acquisition financing with longer terms to acquire sites and plan for future affordable housing development. CEDAC’s streamlined approval process allows developers to respond quickly when opportunities arise, and create additional opportunities for properties not currently on the market.

· Holding cost assistance: DND has also allocated $300,000 for zero interest loans to cover interest, insurance, real estate taxes and other holding costs while nonprofits conduct community process, secure regulatory approvals and assemble complex packages of public and private financing.

Combatting Displacement in Jackson Square

Since the fund was established, one project has closed using its resources, with a second loan approved. Urban Edge Inc., a community development corporation that serves Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, in January acquired two lots on Columbus Avenue, adjacent to a third parcel that the CDC purchased through a prior CEDAC acquisition loan. Located just outside of Jackson Square, those underutilized parcels include a commercial building in need of repair and a parking lot. These sites are within an area that the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) deemed PLAN: JP/ROX, about which the city of Boston has made recommendations regarding affordable housing, transportation and open space improvements. Urban Edge’s project will both combat displacement, which remains a problem in the surrounding neighborhood, and contribute to Jackson Square’s revitalization.

“The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund is an important new resource for nonprofit organizations in Boston who otherwise might find it challenging to compete in the real estate market,” said Frank Shea, CEO of Urban Edge. “Along with providing resources, working with the city, CEDAC and LISC Boston made this a much easier process.”

CEDAC, DND and LISC have heard about many exciting opportunities as we speak with our nonprofit partners, all of whom are working hard to compete in a difficult real estate market, to ensure that long-term residents and newcomers alike can afford to live here. The Vacant Site Acquisition Fund demonstrates the kind of innovative public-private partnership that shows why Boston is a national leader in community development – and ways we can be effective in creating a diverse and equitable community.

Roger Herzog is the executive director of the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC). Sara Barcan is CEDAC’s director of housing development.

https://cedac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BT_May072018_Reprint_BostonsAffordability.pdf

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SourceBanker & Tradesman

MassHousing Funds Improvements On Roxbury, Chelsea Affordable Housing Properties

MassHousing has arranged financing to improve two Boston-area apartment complexes and maintain their affordability.
The 90-unit Cleaves Court and Dimock Bragdon Apartments in Roxbury will receive $16.9 million in financing.
Cleaves Court was originally built in the late 1890s on Cleaves Street and consists of adjacent, 3-story buildings containing eight one-bedroom apartments, 20 two-bedroom apartments and eight three-bedroom apartments. Urban Edge has owned the property since 1985.
Dimock Bragdon was built in 1900 and consists of seven contiguous buildings on Columbus Avenue containing four one-bedroom apartments, 25 two-bedroom apartments and 25 three-bedroom apartments. Urban Edge has owned this property since 1982.

Cleaves Court
Among the property improvements planned are the installation of groundwater infiltration systems to address flooding at both locations, upgrades to building systems, upgrades to fire systems, masonry repairs, roof and window replacement, the venting of kitchen range hoods and bathroom fans and some kitchen and bathroom renovations.
All of the apartments are covered by federal Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment contracts.
Additionally, the 71-unit Chelsea Square apartments in Chelsea will receive $5.1 million in MassHousing financing.
Chelsea Square Assoc., which owns Chelsea Square, is refinancing the property and will extend the federal Section 8 Housing

Chelsea Square Apartments
Assistance Payment contact on the 71 apartments for 20 years.
Constructed in the early 1900s, Chelsea Square is located on Broadway in Chelsea and is comprised of two 4-story buildings and nine 3-story buildings containing 56 one-bedroom apartments and 15 two-bedroom apartments. The management agent is Trinity Management.
The $5.1 million MassHousing loan was provided through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Multifamily Accelerated Processing/Ginnie Mae Mortgage Backed Securities program.

SourceBanker & Tradesman