Charlesview Housing Limited Partnership in Boston has received funding under a $27.6 million investment from Google.
Iowa-based AEGON USA Realty Advisor LLC, a commercial real estate investment and management arm of AEGON and manager of a low-income housing tax credit fund for Google Inc. has added the Boston property to the fund, according to a statement.
The new property will be a community composed of 22 three- to five-story buildings with 240 units for families, a parking garage, commercial space and community space. The fund will provide a major source of funding for the project.
Several tranches of the fund closed earlier this year and included a $28 million investment in two low-income housing developments in Minneapolis, Minn., and Sante Fe, N.M. and a $47 million investment in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"We are excited to continue our partnership with AEGON to expand quality affordable housing for families in the United States," said Brent Callinicos, Google vice president and treasurer. "This critical initiative reflects our sustained commitment to invest in areas that not only make sound financial sense but also help to benefit our local communities."
According to Christoph Gabler, senior vice president for AEGON USA Realty Advisors LLC, Charlesview is being developed by The Community Builders Inc., one of the nation’s largest nonprofit urban developers in partnership with Charlesview Inc., a community-based nonprofit.
The new community will include replacement units for families that currently live in the existing Charlesview Apartments located a half-mile away as well as new affordable and market rate units in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston. In addition, the plan calls for new streets, parks, a community center and retail space. Harvard University is providing the land on which the new development will be built as well as some of the capital to construct it, in exchange for title to the existing Charlesview which is at the epicenter of its Allston campus.
The 240 units will consist of 211 affordable tax credit units, 200 of which will have Section 8 subsidies and 29 units that will be unrestricted units. The project is being financed by a using 4 percent credits and tax-exempt bonds as well as subordinate financing. Affordability levels are being maintained for relocating residents via an innovative transfer of existing project subsidies to the new development.
