Boston Hotel-to-Affordable Conversion Lands Funding
Total development costs, which also included the acquisition, landed at $49 million.
The Community Builders and Pine Street Inn have secured financing for the redevelopment of a former 131-key hotel into a 99-unit, age-restricted affordable housing community in Boston. As of February, the total development costs, including the acquisition, clocked in at $49 million.
Commodore Builders will serve as the general contractor, while BWA Architecture provides design services. The project broke ground in December.
Once complete, the community will cater to seniors aged 62 and above who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness and are earning no more than 30 percent the area median income. All apartments will benefit from HUD’s Section 8 program. Pine Street Inn will provide supportive services, such as medical assistance and workforce development.
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Floorplans call for studio layouts measuring 305 square feet. Units will feature new flooring, lighting and appliances, among others. Additionally, through green building practices, such as in-unit aerators and environmentally conscious heating systems, the project is aiming for Enterprise Green Communities 2020 certification.
Located at 900 Morrissey Blvd., the redevelopment is less than 6 miles from downtown Boston. A transit stop and several parks, as well as the Neponset River, are within roughly 1 mile.
MassHousing, Eastern Bank, the City of Boston and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, as well as the Community Economic Development Assistance Corp., funded the redevelopment. Additionally, The Community Builders and the City of Boston entered an 18-year, payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.
In January, the development received LIHTC—one of 19 Massachusetts projects to secure tax credits this year—following last year’s $1 billion tax relief signed by Gov. Healy, which raised the state LIHTC allocation to $60 million annually.
Metro Boston’s new multifamily starts taper off
Greater Boston’s multifamily pipeline encompassed more than 18,500 units under construction as of December, according to Yardi Matrix data. Of these, 12.4 percent—or about 2,200 units—were within fully affordable projects.
Roughly 5,400 units entered the metro’s under-construction pipeline during the first 11 months of the year, the same source shows. During the same period of last year, the figure was nearly double, landing at more than 9,800 units.
As the pipeline thinned out, Greater Boston’s average advertised asking rents went up 3.4 percent year-over-year as of September, according to a recent Yardi Matrix report. The gap between market-rate and affordable rents in the metro was already high, landing at more than $982, as revealed by the October Yardi Matrix affordable bulletin.
Another affordable project to receive funding was the Planning Office for Urban Affairs and St. Francis House’s 126-unit tower in downtown Boston. The developers secured a total of $153 million and completion is expected in 2026.
