Harborlight Community Partners Preserves, Renovates Beverly Affordable Supportive Living Facility With MassDevelopment Financing

September 22, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077 (cell)
kabbruzzese@massdevelopment.com

Andrew DeFranza, Harborlight Community Partners, 978-922-1305
adefranza@harborlightcp.org

MassDevelopment has issued a $4 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Harborlight House LLC, an affiliate of Harborlight Community Partners, a Beverly affordable housing manager and developer. The organization will use bond proceeds to buy and renovate Harborlight House, an affordable senior supportive living facility at 1 Monument Square in Beverly. The developers plan to improve the building’s energy efficiency and renovate the units to improve wheelchair accessibility. The project will maintain the building’s 30 units as affordable for another 30 years. Harborlight Community Partners expects the project will support 14 construction jobs. In addition to the tax-exempt bond, MassDevelopment assisted the Department of Housing and Community Development with the approval of federal low-income housing tax credits, which provided approximately $2 million in equity. East Boston Savings Bank purchased the bond.

"The demand for quality affordable living facilities in Massachusetts is high, yet the resources to maintain these buildings are often scarce," said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. "MassDevelopment is proud to support Harborlight Community Partners, Inc. as it upgrades and improves Harborlight House, thereby maintaining the building’s affordability and helping address the needs of North Shore seniors."

Harborlight Community Partners, Inc. is a nonprofit community development corporation that works to provide affordable housing across southern Essex County. By anticipating the housing needs of the region’s increasing underserved population, Harborlight Community Partners creates, preserves, and manages safe, affordable and dignified housing units, many with supportive services. Through these efforts, the organization strives to make homes available to all North Shore citizens, regardless of means.

"Seniors throughout our North Shore communities deserve to be able to remain in this region where they have lived, worked, and raised their families, but there is a shortage of affordable options to support them," notes Andrew DeFranza, Executive Director for Harborlight Community Partners. "This critical collaboration with MassDevelopment and others ensures that Harborlight House will remain viable and affordable for decades to come."

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2014, MassDevelopment financed or managed 314 projects generating investment of more than $2.9 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 6,300 jobs and build or rehabilitate more than 1,600 residential units.