Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) is bringing a 135-unit affordable and workforce housing community in Boston’s Mattapan Square.
The nonprofit is developing The Loop at Mattapan Station on an underutilized Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) parking lot adjacent to the Mattapan trolley line station.
The apartment homes and 10,000 square feet of first-floor retail space will be contained in a six-story building and constructed using the latest passive house energy-efficiency standards. All 135 apartment homes will be deed-restricted and affordable to households across a broad range of incomes, from very low-income residents to moderate-income families, and will include 30 new workforce housing units.
To finance the project, POAH, MassHousing, and the city of Boston have closed on $36.5 million in MassHousing financing. The agency is providing $17.4 million in permanent financing, $16.1 million in tax-exempt bridge financing, and $3 million from its Workforce Housing Initiative.
“The Loop at Mattapan Station is a showcase for MassHousing’s mission-driven work of creating affordable housing for working families and building stronger communities,” said MassHousing executive director Chrystal Kornegay. “We are pleased to join POAH, the commonwealth, and the city of Boston in transforming this underutilized parking lot into 135 new rental homes that will connect residents to economic opportunity for many years to come.”
Boston-based POAH is developing The Loop at Mattapan Station as part of a joint venture with nonprofit Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp., which has had a focus on the community engagement for the project.
“The Loop at Mattapan Station will provide much-needed affordable and workforce housing for this dynamic community while offering neighborhood-scale commercial space. It will also serve as a welcoming gateway to the Neponset River Greenway, connecting the neighborhood with a unique recreational resource,” said POAH president and CEO Aaron Gornstein
Other financing sources include $39.3 million in tax credit equity from low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs) allocated by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, which also provided $5.35 million in direct support for the project. Bank of America is the LIHTC investor and will provide construction financing.
The city of Boston contributed $2.9 million in affordable housing funding. The project also benefits from $1.8 million in public infrastructure funding from the commonwealth and $540,000 in passive house funding from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.
Overall, The Loop at Mattapan Station will feature six studio, 38 one-bedroom, 81 two-bedroom, and 10 three-bedroom apartments.
Eighteen apartments will be restricted to very low-income households earning at or below 30% of the area median income (AMI), and those units will be supported by project-based vouchers through the federal Section 8 and the Massachusetts Rental Voucher programs. There will be 47 apartments restricted to households earning at or below 50% of the AMI, 28 apartments restricted to households earning at or below 60% of the AMI, and 42 apartments restricted to households earning at or below 80% of the AMI, of which 30 will be designated as workforce housing units. The AMI for Boston is $119,000 for a household of four.
The general contractor for the building will be Dellbrook | JKS. MacKay Construction will complete the MassWorks-funded infrastructure work. The architect is The Architectural Team, and the management agent will be POAH Communities.
