Boston - MassHousing has closed on a total of $4.1 million in affordable and workforce housing financing to E3 Development LLC, to support the transformation of a public parking lot at 31 Tufts Street in East Somerville into 16 new units of affordable and workforce rental housing.
MassHousing is providing E3 Development with a $2.8 million permanent loan and $1.3 million in financing from the agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative. The project is also receiving $900,000 through the Community Scale Housing Initiative, which is co-managed by MassHousing and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
Other financing sources include $900,000 in direct support from DHCD, $2 million from the city of Somerville’s Affordable Housing Trust, and $4 million in construction financing from Eastern Bank.
E3 Development was selected by the City of Somerville in 2019 to develop 31 Tufts Street into housing for a range of incomes, with highly sustainable design features, and a small pocket park. The site is located within a five-minute walk of the new East Somerville Station on the MBTA Green Line Extension.
Of the 16 new apartment homes, four will be supported for lower-income residents earning up to 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) through the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program; four apartments will be workforce housing units restricted to households earning at or below 80% of AMI, and eight apartments will be workforce apartments restricted to households earning up to 100% of AMI. The AMI for Somerville is $140,200 for a household of four.
There will be eight studio apartments, four one-bedroom apartments, three two-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom apartment. The general contractor will be Bald Hill Builders; the architect is Placetailor Elton Hampton Design; and the management agent will be Wingate Residential.
The new building will be constructed with Passive House standards. Construction is expected to be completed in summer of 2023.
