MassHousing has closed on $34.4 million in financing for the Franklin Highlands community in Roxbury and Dorchester, Mass.

The financing will extend affordability at the 270-unit community by 20 years and allow for major renovations across the property.

The Franklin Highlands property in Boston will undergo $32 million in extended property renovations, including making extensive masonry repairs to exterior walls, installing new roofs, repairing and replacing windows, upgrading HVAC and electrical systems, expanding a community center, and making general interior improvements.
The Franklin Highlands property in Boston will undergo $32 million in extended property renovations, including making extensive masonry repairs to exterior walls, installing new roofs, repairing and replacing windows, upgrading HVAC and electrical systems, expanding a community center, and making general interior improvements.

“We are very pleased to complete this transaction with Maloney Properties and the Franklin Park Development Tenants Association,” said MassHousing executive director Tim Sullivan. “MassHousing is committed to creating quality affordable housing opportunities for the residents of Massachusetts, and this refinancing advances that mission by unlocking an extensive property modernization and extending long-term housing affordability for hundreds of lower-income families in Dorchester and Roxbury.”

Franklin Highlands is comprised of 14 four-story apartment buildings, located in a 10-block area near Franklin Park. The owners will undertake $32 million in extended property renovations.

MassHousing is providing a $27.6 million permanent loan and a $6.8 million second-mortgage loan. The financing resulted in a new 20-year Sec. 8 housing assistance payment contract on all 270 apartments.

“Given the high desirability of all of Boston’s neighborhoods, the renovation of Franklin Highlands is a critical response to providing quality, affordable housing for long-term residents of Dorchester and Roxbury,” said Felicia Jacques, vice president of development at Maloney Development. “We are thankful to have a partner in MassHousing with whom we can leverage a creative solution to upgrade this housing in a time of limited affordable housing resources.”

Franklin Highlands dates to 1900 and was rehabilitated in 2000 through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Demonstration Disposition Program, or “Demo-Dispo,’’ which was administered in Massachusetts by MassHousing. There are 101 one-bedroom\, 104 two-bedroom, 53 three-bedroom, and 12 four-bedroom apartments.

MassHousing, an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in the state, has financed 49 rental housing communities in Dorchester and Roxbury totaling 5,710 housing units and $455.2 million in original financing.