BOSTON – August 1, 2022 – MassHousing has closed on a total of $4.1 million in affordable and workforce housing financing to E3 Development LLC, to support the transformation of a public parking lot at 31 Tufts Street in East Somerville into 16 new units of affordable and workforce rental housing.
"This project will unlock new economic opportunities, by activating an underutilized site and creating new, affordable homes for working households," said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. "MassHousing congratulates our partners in this transaction, E3 Development and the City of Somerville, for their continuing leadership in producing new, inclusive housing."
"It has been a privilege to partner with the city of Somerville and neighborhood residents to help realize their vision for this project, which will produce new, sustainably designed housing and open space for the community. I am especially grateful for the funding support from MassHousing, DHCD, and the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust that has made it possible to create housing that will be affordable to households with a broad mix of incomes in a neighborhood facing development pressures and rising rents," said Eliza Datta, President of E3 Development.
MassHousing is providing E3 Development with a $2.8 million permanent loan and $1.3 million in financing from the Agency's Workforce Housing Initiative. The project is also receiving $900,000 through the Community Scale Housing Initiative, which is co-managed by MassHousing and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
Other financing sources include $900,000 in direct support from DHCD, $2 million from the city of Somerville's Affordable Housing Trust, $4 million in construction financing from Eastern Bank.
31 Tufts Street advances the Baker-Polito Administration's goal of creating up to 1,000 new workforce housing units affordable to middle-income households through MassHousing's Workforce Housing Initiative. Since the inception of the initiative in 2016, MassHousing has committed or closed workforce housing financing totaling $149 million, to 72 projects, located in 27 cities and towns, and advanced the development of 5,578 housing units across a range of incomes, including 1,507 middle-income workforce units.
E3 Development was selected by the city of Somerville in 2019 to develop 31 Tufts Street into housing for a range of incomes, with highly sustainable design features, and a small pocket park. The site is located within a five-minute walk of the new East Somerville Station on the MBTA Green Line Extension.
Of the 16 new apartment homes, four will be supported for lower-income residents earning up to 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, four apartments will be workforce housing units restricted to households earning at or below 80 percent of AMI, and eight apartments will be workforce apartments restricted to households earning up to 100 percent of AMI. The Area Median Income for Somerville is $140,200 for a household of four.
There will be eight studio apartments, four one-bedroom apartments, three two-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom apartment. The general contractor will be Bald Hill Builders, the architect is Placetailor Elton Hampton Design, and the management agent will be Wingate Residential. The new building will be constructed with Passive House standards. Construction is expected to be completed in summer of 2023.
MassHousing has financed nine rental housing communities in Somerville totaling 1,384 housing units and $117.3 million in overall financing. The Agency has also provided home mortgage loans to 881 homebuyers and homeowners in Somerville with an original purchase principal balance of $143.3 million.
About E3 Development LLC
E3 Development is a woman-owned real estate development company focused on delivering high-quality, innovative housing projects that respond to the needs and priorities of local communities. For more information about E3 Development please visit www.e3devco.com.
About MassHousing
MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $27.5 billion for affordable housing. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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