Good news for residents of Urban Edge-owned Bancroft Apartments and Dixwell Apartments. We recently secured the financing necessary to bring much-needed renovations to these homes in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.
Bancroft Apartments includes 45 homes, while Dixwell Apartments contains 33 homes. (The development will now be known as Bancroft Dixwell Apartments). This financing will allow us to preserve and deepen the affordability the vast majority (75 out of 78) of the homes, and also renovate and revitalize the apartments.
Financing for the project includes $35.3 million from MassHousing, a quasi-public agency that provides funding for affordable housing in Massachusetts. An additional $27.1 million in investment was made by Enterprise Housing Community Investments, using Low Income Housing Tax Credits through the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), as well as state and federal historic tax credits. Pre-development financing was provided by the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC).
“The Bancroft Dixwell Apartments are an important source of affordable housing in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain but are in need of significant upgrades,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay in a press release about the financing package. “MassHousing was pleased to partner with Urban Edge to ensure that these 78 rental homes are modernized, in order to provide their residents with affordable rents and economic opportunity for many years into the future.”
Urban Edge acquired the four buildings that comprise Bancroft Apartments in 1982. We acquired Dixwell Apartments, which also has four structures, in 2002. Both developments were built in the early 20th century and five of the eight buildings are considered historic. As beautiful as they are on the outside, it is clearly time for them to be modernized and upgraded.
We will be investing an estimated $17 million to renovate the eight structures. Not only will Urban Edge replace the kitchens and bathrooms in these affordable homes, we will also create accessible units, update the heating and ventilation systems, strengthen the existing building envelopes to stop deterioration, and put in new sprinkler systems. We anticipate that our renovation efforts will be done in 2023.
“I am especially looking forward to having a new kitchen and bathroom,” said Kyra Hunter. “I love the community that I live in, especially my neighbors. These renovations will not only upgrade the space we live in, but improve the lives of all of us.”
Urban Edge would like to thank the development team for this project, which includes NEI General Contracting (general contractor), Davis Square Architects (architect), WinnCompanies (property management), Construction Services Consultation Company of New England, Schwarzschild Consulting (real estate development consulting), Klein Hornig (attorneys)., and Judy Cohn Housing and Relocation Consultants.
“We’re happy to be working with our long-time partner, Urban Edge on this 78-unit affordable housing project. We’ve committed to building affordable housing for the better part of a decade and applying our building skills to help build better lives is something that inspires us,” said Marc Marcelli, Vice President of NE Operations for NEI General Contracting.
“Refinancing and recapitalizing affordable housing is a critically important way for us to preserve affordable housing and further stabilize families who have lived in our communities for decades, if not generations,” said Emilio Dorcely, Urban Edge’s CEO. “As importantly, we’re excited about the providing upgraded homes to our residents along with the expert general contractors at NEI. Urban Edge thanks our long-time supporters MassHousing, Enterprise, DHCD, and CEDAC for their continued support of our work and we look forward to residents like Kyra seeing their brand new kitchens and bathrooms!”
