Posted on August 10, 2018
BOSTON --- The Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) used its private bank financing and other capital resources in Fiscal Year 2018 to preserve long-established affordable housing in some of Boston’s priciest neighborhoods while also making long-term permanent loans to support the city’s efforts to add affordable housing on vacant or underutilized properties.
All told, MHP used its loan programs to provide over $18 million for the financing of 222 apartments in Boston in Fiscal Year 2018, almost all of them affordable. In two cases, MHP also provided early technical assistance to determine the feasibility of the developments.
Statewide, MHP committed $222 million for the financing of 1,750 apartments in Fiscal Year 2018. Of the units financed, 732 were affordable at or below 60 percent of area median income. Also in FY18, MHP closed 21 loans totaling $182 million for the financing of 1,563 apartments, 878 of which were affordable at or below 60 percent of area median income.
Here’s a roundup of MHP’s commitments and closings in Boston in fiscal year 2018:
Dorchester – Using its bank-funded loan pool, MHP closed on a $3 million permanent loan to the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp. for Whittier-Lyndhurst-Washington (WLW), an ambitious, 44-apartment neighborhood stabilization effort in the city’s Codman Square neighborhood.
WLW involved the following:
- Purchase and rehab of a distressed, highly visible, nine-unit brick building at Lyndhurst and Washington streets in the Codman Square business district,
- Development of eight units on a vacant lot at 472 Washington St.,
- Development of three new buildings and 13 units on two vacant lots at Darlington Street and Southern Ave.,
- Acquisition and rehabilitation of 14 public housing units at the former Whittier School on Southern Ave.
Prior to making its loan, MHP provided technical assistance to evaluate the physical and financial condition of the public housing and recommended to the state that the property be preserved in conjunction with the development of the adjacent vacant lots.
Jamaica Plain – MHP closed on a $1.3 million permanent loan to the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. (JPNDC) for 75 Amory Avenue, a new 39-unit, four-story apartment building within walking distance of the Jackson Square MBTA station. The development is 100 percent affordable to households earning 60 percent or less of Area Median Income. Seventy-five percent of the apartments are family-sized, with 19 two- and 10 three-bedroom units.
The development is the result of a multi-year, community driven master planning process that included JPNDC, Urban Edge, the Hyde Square Task Force and The Community Builders. In addition to receiving financing from its bank-funded loan pool, MHP also provided technical assistance funds that were used to bring in general contractor input early to help achieve a successful design for this complicated site.
Lower Roxbury – MHP closed on a $6.3 million, 40-year, fixed-rate Treasury Risk Share loan to the Commonwealth Land Trust. The financing supported CLT’s efforts to repair and repairs and preserve affordability of 70 apartments that provide stable homes and on-site case management services to the formerly homeless and many of Boston's most vulnerable citizens. These homes are spread across nine historic, brick walk-up buildings in the Roxbury/South End neighborhood near the Ruggles MBTA station and Northeastern University. The loan also included the refinancing of four commercial storefronts.
Roxbury – To support the City of Boston’s ongoing efforts to reinvest in Roxbury’s Quincy Street corridor, MHP has committed $2.5 million in long-term financing to The Community Builders for the development of The Clarion, a new mixed-income 39-unit apartment building that will be built on several vacant parcels at the corner of Quincy Street and Blue Hill Avenue.
MHP is financing the Clarion with a 40-year, low-interest, fixed-rate loan through its Treasury Risk Share Program. The development will consist of one four-story building with almost 6,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space and 15 one-, 21 two- and three three-bedroom apartments on the upper floors. Twenty-seven apartments will be affordable at 60 percent of area median income, five units will be affordable up to 100 percent AMI and seven will be rented at market rate.
South End – Working in partnership with the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., MHP committed $5 million from its bank-funded loan pool to provide construction and permanent financing to Tent City Corporation for the historic renovation and preservation of 30 affordable apartments in Boston’s pricy South End neighborhood.
The loan will support the renovation of six four-story brownstones which hold five apartments each. Built in the 1800s, the brownstones are located between Dartmouth and Clarendon Streets near Copley Square. The apartments will remain affordable – 28 apartments at 50 percent of area median income and two at 80 percent AMI.
About MHP: MHP uses private bank funds and other capital sources to provide long-term financing for the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing. Since 1990, MHP has provided over $1.2 billion in loans and commitments for the financing of 25,000 units of rental housing.
For more details, check out MHP’s Multifamily Financing Interest Rate Tracker, which has terms and interest rates updated weekly for Treasury Risk Share, Fannie Mae Fixed, Fannie Mae Variable, FHA MAP and MHP Private Bank Funds.
For more information, contact Director of Lending David Rockwell at drockwell@mhp.net or 857-317-8550 or Senior Relationship Manager Nancy McCafferty at nmccafferty@mhp.net or 857-317-8556.