MassHousing Completes $2.5 Million Refinancing of Downtown Lowell Affordable Housing Community

The 34-unit Majestic Apartments will remain affordable to lower-income households for the long term   

BOSTON – April 1, 2021 – MassHousing has provided $2.5 million in affordable housing financing to Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative (AHSC), to refinance and preserve affordability at the 34-unit Majestic Apartments for senior citizens and residents with disabilities in downtown Lowell.

“We are pleased that this transaction will help ensure that the Majestic Apartments remain a quality affordable housing option for residents in downtown Lowell long into the future,” said MassHousing Executive Director Chrystal Kornegay. “AHSC shares MassHousing’s mission of providing affordable housing that will allow Massachusetts residents to prosper, and we were happy to be part of this transaction with them.”

“AHSC is grateful for MassHousing’s support of our efforts to reinvest in Majestic Apartments to address the physical and financial needs of the property so that residents will continue to have high quality affordable housing,” said AHSC Executive Director Michael Mattos.

Of the 34 apartments, 31 are restricted to households earning at or below 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and three units are supported by a federal Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment contract for lower-income households that will be renewed for 20 years. The Area Median Income for Lowell is $108,000 for a household of four.

MassHousing previously provided financing for the Majestic Apartments along with the use of Low Income Housing Tax Credits in 2003. As a condition of the tax credit transaction, a 99-year affordability restriction was put in place that will remain until 2102.

The Majestic Apartments are comprised of four studio apartments and 30 one-bedroom apartments in a five-story building at 445 Merrimack Street in downtown Lowell. The brick and masonry building was constructed in the early 1900s and renovated in 2004.

The management agent is Peabody Properties.

“This refinancing provides us with the opportunity to stabilize and take advantage of today’s low interest rates,” said Jim Sullivan, Majestic’s majority general partner.  “Doing so also allows us to prefund the reserve of replacements to a level that will allow the Majestic Apartments to be well maintained into the future.”

MassHousing has financed 14 rental housing communities in Lowell totaling 2,107 units of housing with an overall original loan amount of $253 million. The Agency has also provided home mortgage loans to 2,408 homebuyers and homeowners in Lowell with an original purchase principal balance of $270 million.

About Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative 

Affordable Housing and Services Collaborative, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2001. Its mission is to provide and preserve affordable housing for low-income families, youth, elders, persons with disabilities, as well as special populations. Fulfilling their mission is a collaborative effort and process that includes working with private and public partners to seek project financing, grant funding and other leveraged resources to acquire, develop, rehabilitate, and create affordable housing opportunities, as well as to enhance and expand quality of life initiatives through funding wellness, educational, vocational, and social programming. AHSC has been involved in many complex affordable housing developments involving new construction, as well as historic and occupied rehabilitation. Through their involvement in more than 20 projects in various roles they have kept approximately 1,300 units affordable. For more information about AHSC please visit www.ahscinc.org.

About MassHousing 

MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The Agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. MassHousing does not use taxpayer dollars to sustain its operations, although it administers some publicly funded programs on behalf of the Commonwealth. Since its inception, MassHousing has provided more than $27 billion for affordable housing. For more information, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.