MassHousing has closed a package of 10 loans totaling $125 million that will preserve affordable housing for 931 apartments.
Rhode Island Homes LLC, a subsidiary of Providence Realty Investment, has borrowed $125 million from MassHousing to purchase 10 existing affordable apartment communities from their former owner, Equity Residential, which put the portfolios up for sale last year. Nearly one-third of the apartments involved were at risk of converting to market rents, according to a statement.
"It is unusual that we have the opportunity to preserve a whole portfolio of affordable housing in one transaction," said MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason. "This is one of the most complex transactions in our 45-year history, but we’re pleased that we have the technical expertise to get it done, especially when every unit of affordable housing is critical."
The loans will ensure that rents at the 10 properties remain affordable for lower-income renters for at least the next 60 years.
"This is great news for hundreds of families and senior citizens and exactly the kind of affordable housing lending we should be doing," said Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki. "Many of these apartments may well have gone to market rents and become unattainable to working families and seniors living on fixed incomes without MassHousing’s financing to keep them affordable."
The 10 apartment communities include:
• Cedar Glen in Reading, $17.4 million in loans for 114 units of elderly housing
• Glen Grove in Wellesley, $22.9 million in loans for 125 units of elderly housing
• Gosnold Grove in Falmouth, $2.3 million in loans for 33 units of family housing
• Nehoiden Glen in Needham, $11.6 million in loans for 61 units of elderly and family housing
• Chestnut Glen in Abington, $16 million in loans for 130 units of elderly housing
• Heritage Green in Sturbridge, $12.1 million in loans for 130 units of elderly and family housing
• Noonan Glen in Winchester, $2.5 million in loans for 18 units of elderly housing
• Norton Glen in Norton, $18.2 million in loans for 150 units of family housing
• Longfellow Glen in Sudbury, $14.7 million in loans for 120 units of elderly and family housing.
• Old Mill Glen in Maynard, $7.3 million in loans for 50 units of family housing.
