2nd phase of St. Polycarp Village begins construction

SOMERVILLE, May 12, 2011 --- Less than two years after celebrating the completion of Saint Polycarp Phase I, state and local officials returned to these church grounds earlier this month to celebrate the groundbreaking of Phase II.

"I would like to thank everyone who is involved in this development," said Danny LeBlanc, executive director of the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) during groundbreaking ceremonies on May 5. "There are a lot of funders who made this day possible but if you take any one of them away, this housing does not happen."

The Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP)has provided a$1.6 million long-term fixed rate loancommitment from its bank-funded loan pool to help SCC create 29 new affordable rental homes in Phase II. The new rental homes will consist of three one-bedroom apartments, 20 two-bedroom apartments, and six three-bedroom apartments. All units will be made affordable to residents earning below 60 percent of the area median income.

"We are delighted to be supporting Somerville Community Corporation in its efforts to bring more affordable housing to the city," said Clark Ziegler, MHP's executive director. "We support a lot of non-profit development organizations SCC is one of the gems. They do it all, from mixed-income housing to housing that's more deeply affordable."

This is the second time MHP has used its privately-funded loan pool to support the redevelopment of the St. Polycarp Parish site. In 2007, MHP committed $2.35 million in first mortgage financing to support the first phase of St. Polycarp Village re-development. This loan helped create 24 affordable rental apartments and recently won a HUD HOME Door Knocker Award for producing sustainable energy-efficient housing.

The redevelopment of the St. Polycarp parish site has received strong support from both the City of Somerville and was awarded Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) funds and HOME funds. Bank of America is the construction lender and First Sterling Financial is the tax credit investor. The development also received funding from Bank of New York Mellon, the Local Initiatives Support Corp., and Enterprise Green Communities. In addition, letters of support were provided by Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Alderman Walter Pero, Congressman Michael Capuano, Senator Patricia Jehlen, and Representative Carl Sciortino. The development was also cited in the City of Somerville Consolidated Plan for 2008-2013.

MHP is a privately-funded, public non-profit affordable housing organization that uses private bank funds to provide long-term permanent loans for affordable rental housing development due to a 1990 state law that requires banks that purchase other banks to make funds available to MHP. Since 1990, MHP's loan pool has grown to over $1.1 billion and it has provided over $697 million in loans and commitments for the financing of over 17,000 rental units. For more information about this development, contact Deputy Director of Lending Dick Mason at 617-330-9944 ext. 242.