Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Three years after being designated by the Boston Housing Authority to redevelop the Mildred Hailey Apartments in Jamaica Plain, the nonprofit development team of The Community Builders, the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. and Urban Edge filed detailed plans this month to replace the 253 existing apartments and add 437 mixed-income apartments. The filing kicks off the formal review process of the trio's plans to replace seven older buildings with seven-story buildings of new apartments serving a wide mix of incomes.

BOSTON --- Boston Capital, one of the nation's oldest and largest syndicators of low-income housing tax credits, is selling its $7 billion portfolio to Boston Financial, it was announced last week by ORIX Corp USA, the parent company of Boston Financial. Founded in 1974 by Jack Manning and Herb Collins, Boston Capital has raised more than $10.5 billion of investor equity for more than 3,500 properties nationwide.

ATTLEBORO -- The nonprofit Retirement Housing Foundation and The Schochet Companies have purchased and will preserve the affordability of Hillcrest Acres Apartments, a 100-unit of mixed-income development that was originally funded under a federal housing program known as Section 236. The development partnership acquired the property with an $8.4 million loan from the state's Community Development Economic Assistance Corp. and will seek further financing to stabilize and make repairs on the property.

WORCESTER --- A New York City development group has reached a tentative agreement to purchase the 114-year-old Commerce Building, a nine-story Main St. building hailed as the downtown's first "skyscraper." City Manager Edward Augustus said SilverBrick Group LLC is looking to invest over $54 million to create a mixed-use projecct with 312 units of market rate housing. The developers are seeking tax exemptions from the city and tax credits from the state.

LAWRENCE --- A longtime social service nonprofit is taking its first plunge into affordable housing development as the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (GLCAC) is breaking ground this month on a 39-unit affordable housing project. GLCAC was picked by the city to develop the 19th century downtown building because "we were closest to what the city had requested," said CEO Evelyn Friedman, former director of housing for the City of Boston and executive director of Nuestra Comunidad, a Roxbury-based housing nonprofit.

FALMOUTH ---Acting to reach a stated goal and to create zoning for a specific site, the Planning Board has created a subcomittee to draft a multifamily zoning bylaw. The board has had a goal of creating more workforce housing and a multifamily housing bylaw is needed to implement a mixed-use walkable village proposal for the Falmouth Plaza site.