Image courtesy of Sustainable Comfort

What: Mission on Summer
Where: 205 Summer St. Worcester
Owner: Mission on Summer LLC
Built: 2022-2023 

Developers received $3.1 million in financing from MassDevelopment and Bay State Savings Bank for the conversion of a vacant downtown Worcester chapel into affordable housing. 

After sitting empty for decades, the 169-year-old chapel is being renovated to create seven market-rate apartments. MassDevelopment is providing a $1.5 million tax credit bridge loan, while Bay State Savings Bank furnished a $1.6 million construction-to-permanent first mortgage loan.  

Mission on Summer, led by principal Nan Porter and Matt Kiefer, is partnering with Causeway Development, previously known as The Traggorth Cos., on the project. 

Ichabod Washburn, a founder of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and local industrialist, built the non-denominational chapel in 1854. 

They Said It: 

“We are gratified to return this historic gem to active use as seven distinctive apartments in a premier location near downtown Worcester, St. Vincent Hospital, Union Station and the Canal District.”
— Nan Porter, principal, Mission on Summer