Boston Financial Closes $170M Fund

Boston Financial has closed its latest Low Income Housing Tax Credit multi-investor fund, a $170 million investment vehicle that will provide capital for the creation and preservation of 1,418 affordable units in 16 communities across 13 states.

The LIHTC fund, Institutional Tax Credits 60 Limited Partnership, secured commitments from six institutional investors, including a mix of regional and national banks and insurance companies. The fund will deploy capital to 14 affordable housing developers—30 percent of whom are nonprofit organizations. ITC 60 will be providing funding for new construction and preservation projects in 13 states: California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Nearly 45 percent of the properties will bring affordable rental homes to minority communities. Several properties will have units designated for seniors, veterans, people with physical or mental disabilities and formerly unhoused families.

ITC 60 is the first new LIHTC multi-fund that Boston Financial has closed since Rob Golden, a former longtime Capital One Community Finance executive, became CEO in May. While serving as head of equity, portfolio management and business analysis, Golden designed and developed Capital One’s LIHTC investment program.

“As a company, Boston Financial has been focused exclusively on affordable housing for 55 years, and I have spent my career working on creative solutions related to the ongoing affordable housing crisis,” Golden told Multi-Housing News. “In the coming months and years, Boston Financial will continue to build our industry-leading platform and deep investor and developer relationships to create opportunities for growth and impact—and develop and preserve more affordable homes for people who need them.”

Two projects highlighted

ITC 60 is expected to create more than 2,100 new jobs, bringing an estimated $250 million in wages and business income to surrounding communities as well as more than $90 million in tax revenue.

One of the projects receiving funding from ITC 60 is Pointe Common in Fullerton, Calif., which will provide 65 affordable apartments for households earning between 30 and 70 percent of the Area Median Income. Developed by Meta Housing, Pointe Common is being built on a city-owned site at 1600 W. Commonwealth Ave.

Construction on Pointe Common began in July and is expected to take about 18 months to complete. The three-story building will have 29 one-bedroom units, 19 two-bedroom units and 17 three-bedroom apartments. The property, which will provide services and amenities for residents, will have 108 parking spaces including six with electric vehicle charging stations. The property is located near the Union Pacific/Metrolink rail line.

The fund will also include communities like Walnut Street Apartments in Foxborough, Mass., which will feature 141 new one-bedroom affordable apartments for low-income seniors in its first phase. It is the first new affordable development to be built in Foxborough in decades. The developers—Peabody Properties, Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative, Onyx Group and Novo Growth Partners—are planning a second phase.

The land for Walnut Street Apartments was owned by the state, which conveyed the site to the partnership via a long-term ground lease with the Foxborough Housing Authority. The property will feature a fitness room, grilling area, pickleball and bocce courts, community garden with raised garden beds and a dog park.

Earlier funds

Since the beginning of the LIHTC program in 1986, Boston Financial has worked with more than 200 investors to preserve or build more than 300,000 affordable homes. Boston Financial, an arm of investment and asset management firm ORIX Corp. USA, is the largest LIHTC syndicator in the country. The firm manages a $16.2 billion portfolio comprised of almost 1,900 properties.

Boston Financial closed another LIHTC multi-investor fund,  Institutional Tax Credits 58 Limited Partnership, in April 2023. The $131 million investment vehicle provided capital for the creation and preservation of affordable housing properties in 15 communities across nine states.

In November 2022, the firm closed Institutional Tax Credits 57, its third LIHTC multi-investor fund of 2022. The $164 million national fund provided capital for affordable units in 16 communities across 13 states.

Earlier that year, the firm closed Institutional Tax Credits 56. The $290 million fund was the single-largest multi-investor fund syndicated by Boston Financial in the last 15 years. ITC 56 helped finance 17 multifamily and six senior living communities, totaling more than 2,500 affordable housing units. More than half of the properties were new construction projects.