Less than a week after her State of the Commonwealth address in which she vowed to tackle rising housing costs, Governor Maura Healey on Monday announced that her administration was committing resources to support the production and preservation of more than 1,900 housing units in 19 communities across the state, including Chelsea.
Gov. Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus joined state Sen. Liz Miranda and state Representative Samantha Montaño in Jamaica Plain to celebrate the Blessed Sacrament Church historic adaptive reuse project and to announce subsidies and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) support for several affordable housing projects across the state.
One of those projects receiving the LIHTC is the 4th at Broadway project in Chelsea.
“Arx Urban is grateful for the crucial support provided by the State of Massachusetts,” said Benjie Moll, principal at project developer Arx Urbana. “This partnership will make it possible for us to build a 62-unit mixed-income, deeply sustainable, transit-oriented community for the Chelsea community.”
The project at 361 Broadway was originally approved by the Chelsea ZBA in the spring of 2022.
The project proposed by Arx Urban includes the renovation of the existing Broadway building, and the demolition of the adjacent commercial garage to make way for a new building.
The 19 units in the existing Broadway building will be renovated, and the six commercial tenants already on the ground floor of the building will remain, Moll said at the time of the ZBA hearing.
The new building at the site of the current parking garage will be six stories tall and connected by corridors to the existing building.
Altogether, 57 of the 62 studio through three-bedroom units will be affordable, according to Moll.
“When we acquired the building six years ago, the intent was always to try to find a higher and better use for the parking garage, which takes up such a large part of this downtown block,” Moll told the ZBA.
Healey said the projects like the one on Broadway in Chelsea are a great example of why the state expanded the LIHTC,
“From a church transformed into mixed-use mixed-income housing in Boston to the re-use of a vacant nursing home as affordable rental housing in Northampton, these funds will make it possible for thousands of Massachusetts residents to afford a home,” said Healey. “We look forward to continuing to work to pass the Affordable Homes Act this year to create much-needed housing across all income levels in the state.”
Last fall, as part of a $1 billion tax relief signed by the governor, the Administration raised the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to $60 million annually – a $20 million increase over the previous year.
“We are expanding housing opportunities so more people can live, work and stay in Massachusetts,” said Driscoll. “This is just one piece of the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s strategy to increase our housing supply and lower costs for hard-working Massachusetts residents.”
Augustus said these projects, which will now be built as a result of the increase to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, are a direct result of the governor’s tax relief bill.
“The funding of these projects is proof that housing production for all of our communities is a top priority for the Healey-Driscoll Administration,” Augustus said. “The governor’s Affordable Homes Act will soon fund even more, much needed, affordable housing in the commonwealth.”