Posted on July 1, 2010
NORTH ANDOVER, July 1, 2010--- At the official groundbreaking, speaker after speaker rose to salute the town of North Andover for contributing $1.3 million in local funds to support the $10.1 million rehabilitation of a former nursing home into affordable housing within walking distance of an elementary school, a middle school and the high school.
"I love communities like North Andover that do a production plan and then put their local resources to work where they need it," said Tina Brooks, undersecretary of the state's executive office of housing and economic development, at the June 28 groundbreaking.
North Andover's contribution will help the non-profit affordable housing development organization, Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH), transform the former Greenery Extended Care Center (vacant since 2003) into 42 units of affordable rental housing for families. Renamed Stevens Corner, it will feature five one-bedroom, 32 two-bedroom, and five three-bedroom units. All units will be affordable to residents earning below 60 percent of the area median income, which in North Andover is $50,800 for a family of four. Stevens Corner will also feature 90 parking spaces and 700 square feet of community space. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2011.
MHP is supporting Stevens Corner with a $1.4 million long-term permanent financing loan commitment from its bank-funded loan pool. The bulk of the financing for this project is being provided through federal low-income housing tax credits awarded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Additional financial support is being provided by the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp., the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, TD Bank and the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is administered by MassHousing.
"The Stevens Corner project is an outstanding example of the type of collaboration and investment that leads to both construction and long-term jobs," said Greg Bialecki, the Patrick Administration's secretary of housing and economic development. "The progress we celebrate here today is a key to the Commonwealth's long-term economic success."
North Andover's source of funds comes from the Community Preservation Act, a state law that allows communities to assess a real estate tax surcharge of up to three percent in order to fund three key community purposes: open space, historic preservation and community housing. The decision to use CPA funds for Stevens Corner was approved by town meeting.
"This was a team effort," said Tracy Watson, a member of North Andover's board of selectmen. "The outreach to the community by NOAH and (executive director) Phil Giffee was outstanding."
"We knew that this would be a good site for housing and we sat around for two years trying to figure out how to do it,"added George Koehler, chairmanof the North Andover Housing Partnership Committee, another key group that rallied local support for the project. "Fortunately, NOAH recognized its potential. On behalf of the town, I'd like to thank NOAH for making it happen."
MHP is able to provide its $1.4 million in long-term private financing due to 1990 law that requires companies that purchase Massachusetts banks to make bank loan funds available to MHP. Since then, MHP's loan pool has grown to over $1.1 billion and it has provided over $643 million for the financing of over 15,000 rental units all across the Commonwealth, at no cost to the taxpayers. Whenever possible, MHP finances projects that include units for lower and middle-income households and three-bedroom units that serve families. For more information about MHP and this project, contact loan officer Amanda Roe at 617-330-9944 x273.