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Rich Mazzocchi
Managing director, Boston Capital Development
Age: 49
Industry experience: 25 years
Boston Capital Development is shifting from acquisitions to a multifamily development strategy, including a high-profile project that could bring hundreds of apartments to the Table Talk Pies bakery property in Worcester’s Kelley Square in the next few years. The firm has agreed to buy the bakery’s manufacturing site and plans a $36 million multifamily project that could break ground as soon as 2022. Rich Mazzocchi leads the firm’s efforts to develop and acquire mixed-income and affordable housing properties in New England, including both ground-up new construction and rehabs. An executive with Boston Capital since 1996, Mazzocchi oversaw acquisition and development of more than 12,500 multifamily units with a focus on low-income housing tax credit properties.
Q: What’s the history of Boston Capital and its core business model?
A: It’s interesting timing for this [interview], because we went through a pretty major change. What Boston Capital has done over the past 45 years is raise equity for investment in affordable housing and also market-rate housing, but primarily affordable. In December, we sold our affordable housing portfolio to Boston Financial, over 1,000 properties, and now we’re very focused on our other business lines in multifamily housing and development, and affordable and workforce housing. My role is to run our development business and head up our development initiatives in New England. Boston Capital’s out of the investment business, and we’re really focused on development and putting the properties together.
Q: What projects do you have in the development pipeline at the moment?
A: We kicked this business off with a project under construction in Dorchester, 80 units at 65 East Cottage St., including 36 units of workforce housing and 44 units of affordable housing in a partnership with Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp. We have one other property we’re developing right now in Nashua, New Hampshire, and partnered with the Nashua Housing and Redevelopment. They have a portfolio of about 700 units. Public housing redevelopment is needed across the country and there’s really a great opportunity here for the authority and the city to recapitalize and reposition some of these assets. The first project is 48 units of public housing that we’re demolishing and creating 216 new units. It will be primarily affordable, and will have some market-rate units. We’ve received funding awards from the state, and we’re planning to break ground in the summer.
In partnership with Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corp., Boston Capital is building 80 units of affordable and workforce housing at 65 East Cottage St. in Dorchester. The project is scheduled for completion in August. Image courtesy of Boston Capital Development
Q: What was the impetus for your development plans in Worcester?
A: I’ve been looking in Worcester for almost three years and working with a local architect there, Dan Benoit. He and I have been looking for development opportunities to develop mixed-income properties, and through our network and some introductions, we were introduced to Table Talk. We think [the proposed multifamily project] has great potential to be very impactful for the community.
It’s really in the heart of the Canal District that’s undergone a revitalization over the past few years. The site is about four acres and the existing zoning allows for really dense, mixed-income, multifamily use. What we’re designing there fits within the zoning. Our initial phase is 81 units in a 6-story building on about 1 acre of the site. Future phases have not been designed, but we’re working on our concept plan. In our discussions, the city has been very supportive of what we’re proposing on the site. The first phase is 100 percent affordable housing. There’s a tremendous shortage of affordable housing in the city and that’s really something that the community at large is looking for right now, so this is an exciting opportunity to provide that. Future phases will be a mix of market-rate, workforce and affordable housing.
Q: In the nationwide portfolio, how did occupancy and rent collection fare in 2020?
A: In our affordable portfolio which we sold in December, the collections were performing very well. Occupancy was strong, so a lot of that has been supported by some of the subsidies from the government, and I think clearly there’s been a trend for the people moving out of major cities in some cases. It’s more so in the higher-end product, and for a city like Worcester, we really see strong demand long-term for this type of housing.
Mazzocchi’s Five Favorite Binge-worthy TV Series:
- Yellowstone
- Breaking Bad
- Billions
- Ozark
- Ray Donovan
