FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — MassDevelopment has issued a $22.2 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Walnut Street Phase One 4 LLC to build 80 units of affordable seniors housing at 51 Walnut Street in the Boston suburb of Foxborough.
The developer is a joint venture that includes Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative Inc., Peabody Properties Inc. and The Onyx Group. The site, previously owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was turned over to the Foxborough Housing Authority in 2017.
These units represent the first step in a multi-phase project that will result in the construction of 200 new units of affordable seniors housing at the site. All of the 80 one-bedroom units will be rented to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income ($68,520 for a one-person household) with 20 units reserved for households earning up to 30 percent of area median income ($34,260 for a one-person household).
The tax-exempt bond, purchased by Citizens Bank, helped Walnut Street Phase One 4 LLC achieve a lower cost of capital.
In addition to the tax-exempt bonds, MassDevelopment assisted the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities with the approval of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that will provide approximately $15.1 million in equity for the project. MassDevelopment previously provided Real Estate Services Technical Assistance awards totaling $55,000 to the Town of Foxborough to help the town develop a request for proposals (RFP) to find a qualified developer for the site (a parcel of the former Foxborough State Hospital), coordinate with the community and analyze RFP responses.