AUBURN, Mass. — Pennrose and the Town of Auburn have broken ground on the historic rehabilitation of the Julia Bancroft School, a 60-unit, mixed-income development for seniors 62 and older. The site is located in Auburn, a suburb just south of Worcester.
Plans for the redevelopment include renovating the original 1920s school building, demolishing the later-built addition and replacing it with a new, four-story building. The project is slated for completion in summer 2022.
Designed to meet LEED Silver sustainability standards, the community will include studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Of the 60 units, 45 will be designated for residents earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) and 15 will be market rate. Four of the affordable apartments have been set aside for Community Based Housing (CBH) and seven are designated as accessible units.
The community is located near multiple transportation options, including regular seven-day bus service connecting residents to the Auburn Mall and Worcester Union Station. In addition, the development will be served by Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA)’s paratransit service, which will provide door-to-door service when requested.
Financing for the project came from Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) in the form of 9 percent federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), state LIHTC, Housing Stabilization Funds, HOME funds $1 million from MassHousing in Affordable Housing Trust Funds, $750,000 in Community Based Housing funds from CEDAC, $9.5 million in federal LIHTC equity and $7.72 million in state LIHTC and Historic Tax Credit Equity from Redstone, $3.4 million in permanent financing from Freddie Mac via Lument and $14.2 million in construction financing from TD Bank. BlueHub Loan Fund Inc served as a state tax credit intermediary.