An 11-story Boston office building that’s 68-percent vacant is slated for a residential conversion tapping into a state program subsidizing affordable units.
Newton-based Dinosaur Capital Partners will seek $215,000 per unit for the affordable portion of the estimated $52.2 million project, comprising 22 of the 110 apartments. The affordable portion would include 19 apartments set aside for households earning a maximum 60 percent of area median income, and three units for federal housing voucher holders.
In August, Gov. Maura Healey announced the state would allocate $15 million from its Affordable Housing Trust Fund toward office-to-residential conversions in Boston, offering $215,000 for each income-restricted unit.
The property was offered for sale as an office condominium, which doesn’t include the ground floor U.S. Post Office branch, by brokerage CBRE, which touted the housing conversion opportunity for buyers but warned that the transaction would likely be a short sale subject to lender approval.
A unit deed was transferred for $100 on Oct. 31 to Liberty Bank from seller Aegean Capital LLC. The property previously traded for $24.25 million in 2014, according to data compiled by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
The 95,599-square-foot building sits next to the 33 Arch St. office tower near Downtown Crossing. It currently has 11 office tenants that occupy 30,655 square feet, according to an application submitted to the Boston Planning Department.
Along with the state incentives, approved conversions receive a 75 percent abatement on their Boston property taxes for 29 years, subject to approval by the Boston Planning & Development Agency.
Dinosaur Capital estimated acquisition costs of $10 million, $34 million for construction and $8.5 million in soft costs. Market-rate unit rents would range from $2,500 to $4,500.
The 1922 building also could be eligible to receive state historic tax credits, developers said in the application.