Winn Breaks Ground on MA Affordable Senior Project
A century-old former Boys Club building is getting a makeover.
Winn Cos. began construction at The Residences on Lincoln Square in downtown Worcester, Mass.
The new senior residential community will preserve and convert the historic three-story Lincoln Square Boys Club building into 16 affordable housing units. An adjacent five-story building with an additional 64 units is part of the project, and it will be connected through a single-story glass enclosure on the ground floor.
The 80-unit development for seniors aged 55-and-over is scheduled for completion in April 2026. The anticipated total development cost is $70 million. WinnResidential will manage it.
The nearly 100-year-old Lincoln Square Boys Club building has been vacant since 2006. It is situated on a lot just shy of an acre in the Worcester Institutional District, which contains some of the city’s most significant 19th and 20th-century civic buildings and architecture.
The Residences on Lincoln Square will offer 19 studios, 46 one-bedroom, and 15 two-bedroom apartments. Eleven units will be designed to be accessible for residents with disabilities. A dozen units will be restricted to residents earning 30 percent or less of the area median income, and the remaining 62 will be for those earning up to 60 percent AMI.
Residents will have walkable access to mass transit, downtown businesses, entertainment, and medical and academic institutions. The property is on the northern edge of the city’s downtown. It abuts the World War One Memorial at Lincoln Square, which city officials plan to renovate simultaneously to construct Residences on Lincoln Square.
Financing fusion
The community was financed through Federal LIHTC, MA State LIHTC, Federal Historic Credits and MA State Historic Credits. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is the bond issuer, providing soft financing. Rockland Trust is providing construction financing, Massachusetts Housing Partnership is providing permanent financing and the City of Worcester is providing additional soft financing.
As part of extensive remediation, the building’s red brick, granite, and limestone masonry have been rehabilitated and vintage-inspired, simulated double-hung awning windows have been installed.
In mid-September, Winn cut the ribbon to open a $39.2 million adaptive reuse development that transformed the oldest mill in Lawrence, Mass., into 86 rental housing units.
The development’s fossil-fuel-free design is expected to use 46 percent less energy and emit 33 percent fewer greenhouse gases than gas-fired multifamily structures. The energy-efficient design, including heat pumps and energy recovery systems, will save 177 metric tons of avoided greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Earlier this year, WinnCos. secured roughly $21 million for constructing The Pointe at Hills Farm, a 93-unit workforce housing community in Shrewsbury, Mass., scheduled to open in mid-2025.
MassHousing provided the funds, encompassing $10.3 million in permanent financing, $7.9 million in tax credit equity bridge loan financing, and $2.8 million through the Agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative.
