The 71-unit Gateway North Apartments, the first project to receive funding through MassHousing’s Workforce Housing Initiative, celebrated its grand opening.
The $100 million Workforce Housing Initiative aims to create 1,000 new homes affordable to middle-income households across Massachusetts and is the largest state-led middle-income housing initiative in the country. The fund was developed to help create workforce housing for households earning 61% to 120% of the area median income (AMI).
To date, MassHousing has committed $57.5 million in workforce housing funds to 25 projects, located in 14 cities and towns. These projects are creating 2,309 housing units across a range of incomes, including 616 new workforce housing units.
Developed by Hub Holdings and Neighborhood Development Associates, a nonprofit affiliate of Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development, Gateway North Apartments is home to working families and individuals across a broad range of incomes, from extremely low-income households to workforce and market-rate residents.
In a sign of demand for the housing, the development received approximately 2,000 inquiries from people interested in renting an apartment, says Thomas J. Bauer, managing principal at Boston-based Hub Holdings.
The development offers 53 traditional affordable housing units, 10 workforce housing units, and eight market-rate units. The new housing aims to be a catalyst for the redevelopment of the city of Lynn’s Washington Street Corridor.
Gateway North was built with substantial state support, including $21 million from MassHousing, including a $10 million permanent loan, a $9.4 million bridge loan, and $1.6 million from the workforce housing fund. The new initiative was vital to the development’s creation, according to Bauer. “Everything accelerated after that became available,” he says.
Other critical financing came from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, which provided state and federal tax credits that generated $12.7 million in equity as well as $3.6 million in affordable housing subsidies. Boston Capital was the housing tax credit financing.
The city of Lynn committed important resources to the project, including more than $900,000 in local HOME funds. The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust was the investor for MassHousing’s bond financing for the project.
Designed by The Architectural Team, the six-story Gateway North offers one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, along with ground-floor commercial space, just two blocks from a commuter rail station.
