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A Lawrence mill-to-housing conversion delayed by water damage during construction has closed on $40.8 million in MassHousing financing and is expected to reach full occupancy by the end of 2022.

The 180-unit Pac10 Lofts project overcame setbacks including water leaks that damaged more than half of the completed units, along with the effects of the COVID shutdown and Merrimack Valley gas explosions in September 2019.

The project is the first in Massachusetts for Reed Community Partners, a Portland, Oregon affordable housing developer. A 6-story section of the 112-year-old Pacific Mill complex on Methuen Street was converted into housing in the first phase, including fitness centers, event spaces and conference rooms on each floor. The project includes a mix of low-income, workforce and market-rate units.

MassHousing provided $17.8 million in tax-exempt permanent financing, an $18 million tax-exempt bridge loan, and $5 million from the Agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative.

Other financing sources included $28.8 million in tax credit equity from an allocation of federal low-income housing tax credits by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), $2.5 million in state historic tax credit equity, $43.3 million in construction financing from Sterling Bank and Trust, a $3.6 million acquisition note, $3.2 million in developer financing, $210,000 in CDBG financing from the city of Lawrence, and $175,000 from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The tax credit investor was Affordable Housing Partners, Inc., an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway. 

Pac10 Lofts Developer Closes on Financing

by Steve Adams time to read: 1 min
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