Gatehouse Group celebrates the grand opening of 132-unit Quail Run

STOUGHTON --- The grand opening of Quail Run provided speakers with the opportunity to praise the Town of Stoughton for its affordable housing efforts.

“Stoughton has provided a great mix of housing for its residents, both in type and at the various price points,” said Tina Brooks, the Patrick Administration’s Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development and keynote speaker at the September 25th event. “When we have communities that offer these types of housing options, it makes the Commonwealth more competitive.”

Quail Run is a 132-unit rental housing development of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. Financed primarily with housing tax credits awarded by DHCD, a construction loan from Bank of America and an $8.1 million long-term loan commitment from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP), 105 of the 132 units are affordable to households with incomes between 30 and 80 percent of median income, or from $25,250 to $66,150 for a family of four.

Quail Run was developed by the Gatehouse Group of Mansfield, Ma. and built under the state law known as Chapter 40B, which allows developers to build housing at greater densities than local zoning allows in communities where less than 10 percent of the housing is affordable. By approving Quail Run, Stoughton boosted its affordable housing supply to nearly 12 percent, meaning it can now determine whether to approve future 40B development proposals.

“I want to commend the Town of Stoughton for granting the permitting that was required to get this done,” said Clark Ziegler, the executive director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. “This is the type of housing we need in the Commonwealth and every community should be doing this so people can set down roots and stay in Massachusetts.”
 
This is the second time in four years that MHP has supported Gatehouse's efforts to build affordable rental housing in the suburbs south of Boston. In 2003, MHP provided $6.6 million in long-term financing to support the development of Franklin Commons in Franklin, a 96-unit development in which 72 of the apartments are affordable to households below 60 percent of median income. That development, which also used tax credits from DHCD, helped push Franklin over the 10 percent threshold, giving it more control over 40B development proposals.
 
MHP is a quasi-public state agency that provides long-term loans for affordable rental housing using private bank funds and at no cost to the taxpayer. This is possible due to a 1990 state law that requires companies that purchase Massachusetts banks to set aside a portion of the acquired assets to MHP. Since then, MHP's loan pool has grown to over a $1 billion and it has provided over $534 million in loans and commitments for the financing of 13,700 units of rental housing. For more information, contact MHP’s Director of Lending, David Rockwell, at 617-330-9944 x222.