Image courtesy of DiMella Shaffer
The $50 million state fund created as part of Gov. Maura Healey’s big housing bill last summer will help a 92-unit Milton project get off the ground.
The Momentum Fund was established by the Affordable Homes Act last year and seeded with $50 million in public money, although state officials hope it will attract investments from philanthropic sources looking for a return. The money will be loaned out to mixed-income housing developments in small packets to close gaps in their capital stacks with low-cost financing, allowing them to get built faster.
MassHousing, which administers the fund, announced Wednesday that the Residences at East Milton, a 40B development at 24 Franklin St., will be the first recipient of money from the revolving fund.
MassHousing spokesperson Paul McMorrow said that the $5 million in equity investment would be provided alongside permanent debt provided by MassHousing, Berkadia and Freddie Mac, to be paid off when the project is sold or refinanced.
That permanent loan is still in process, McMorrow said, and the project’s website notes that demolition was scheduled to begin April 1 to clear three existing houses from the site before construction starts on the new apartment building.
The project by Joseph J. Corcoran Company was approved by the Milton Zoning Board of Appeals in 2022. Total project costs estimated in January 2022 were nearly $43.1 million. The project’s market-rate units were projected at the time to rent for $3,143 per month.
Plans approved by the town show a 5-story, L-shaped building with one floor of basement parking topped by an open-air parking lot. Of the 92 apartments, 23 will be affordable housing.
Healey’s office touted the milestone.
“We passed the $5 billion Affordable Homes Act to increase the production of reasonably priced housing across the state,” the governor said in a statement. “We are excited to announce this major milestone in its implementation today – a public-private partnership that will create hundreds of new homes for folks of all income levels. We look forward to continuing to expand the impact of the Momentum Fund to lower the cost of housing across the state.”
Last fall, Mayor Michelle Wu announced the city was adding $50 million of its own money to the fund, that will match the fund’s equity investments in projects within the city’s borders.
State officials say they are still in the process of reaching out to private-sector funding sources to grow the Momentum Fund, but hope it can eventually catalyze around 1,000 new housing units.
