JMC Joint Venture Lands $93M Loan for Massachusetts Redevelopment

Central Willow Corner. Image courtesy of Cube 3

A joint venture’s redevelopment project in Chelsea, Mass. has earned some financial backing. John M. Corcoran & Co. and Joseph J. Corcoran Co. secured a $93 million construction loan that will be used to redevelop Innes Apartments into two mixed-income buildings. The loan was provided by Cambridge Savings Bank.

The Innes Redevelopment Project calls for the demolition of the eight existing residential buildings that were built in the 1950s. The developers will then do a ground-up construction of two multifamily buildings that total 330 units. The units will be split up as 96 units of public housing reserved for the existing residents of the Innes Apartments, 40 units of middle-income units for new tenants, and 194 market-rate apartments.

The developers are also planning on creating new amenity spaces, a 255-space garage and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Located on a nearly 3-acre site at 170 Central Ave., the Innes Redevelopment will be a block away from the MBTA’s Silver Line, giving residents a 20-minute commute to Boston’s central commute hub, South Station.

The project is being developed in partnership with private equity firm Marcus Partners. On the public side, the project has support from the Chelsea Housing Authority, the City of Chelsea, the Massachusetts Office of Housing and Economic Development and the Department of Housing & Community Development. For DHCD, the Innes Redevelopment represents the first project of its Partnership to Expand Housing Opportunities program, which creates public-private partnerships between housing authorities and developers to preserve public housing by creating mixed-income communities.

Supporting Massachusetts affordable housing

Ian Brandon, senior vice president & head of commercial real estate at Cambridge Savings Bank, said in prepared remarks that the bank considers its support of affordable and mixed-income housing projects very important. Brandon added that the Innes project will be transformative for the Chelsea neighborhood.

Cambridge Savings Bank has a history of lending to developers working on affordable housing projects. Earlier this year, the bank provided a $61.7 million loan to The Michaels Organization for its 219-unit mixed-income development in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Shortly after, Cambridge Savings Bank also provided $84.5 million in aggregate loans to Strategic Land Ventures for two separate developments that will add 61 units of affordable housing to Winchester, Mass. The bank previously provided a $30.9 million construction loan to Boston Realty Advisors for its 193-unit mixed-use development in North Attleboro, Mass.