MassDevelopment and Boston Private Bank & Trust Co. have partnered to provide Brownstone Apartments LLC with $6.64 million in tax-exempt bond financing. The bond proceeds will be used to purchase and renovate a 75-unit rental housing complex in Boston’s South End.

All of the units are affordable, with 73 units rented to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income and two units rented to households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income. Low Cost Tenants Association, the project’s sponsor, is a nonprofit cooperative of apartment residents who work to maintain its affordability.

Renovations include repairing exterior masonry and stonework; replacing windows, kitchen cabinets, flooring, and bath accessories; retiling; resurfacing; and painting. MassDevelopment issued the bond that Boston Private Bank & Trust purchased.

"MassDevelopment is pleased to support Brownstone’s tenants as they purchase and renovate their facility," said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. "Reasonably-priced housing helps attract residents and businesses, and this low-cost financing will help make these South End apartments more attractive and livable."

"Many people and agencies worked hard to help us both maintain control of our homes and invest in rehabilitating these wonderful old buildings – HUD, the city of Boston Neighborhood Housing Trust, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, and Peabody Properties. However, I’d have to put MassDevelopment and Boston Private Bank & Trust at the top of the list," said Jean Niane, Low Cost’s President and a longtime resident. "We are talking about our homes here, and we are not going to gamble with that, and we did not ask MassDevelopment or the Bank to gamble either. We all wanted the same thing, and we’re grateful for their willingness to work with us patiently to find the most efficient and safest way for our homes to continue to be both affordable and well-kept."