MassDevelopment.com: Press Room: $3.48 Million in MassDevelopment Financing Supports Two Western MA Revitalization Projects

$3.48 Million in MassDevelopment Financing Supports Two Western MA Revitalization Projects
Chicopee and Springfield to Benefit
July 23, 2007

Contact:
Adam Bickelman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086

MassDevelopment today announced two financing packages totaling $3,485,000 in investment for Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. of Chicopee and developer Ashford Place Winn II, LLC of Springfield.

Valley Opportunity Council is using proceeds from a $2,835,000 tax-exempt bond and $315,000 mortgage insurance guaranty to purchase and renovate the former Mount Carmel School into an expanded child care center with consolidated program space. Ashford Place Winn II, LLC is using a $335,000 Brownfields Redevelopment Fund loan to remediate environmental contamination at a property slated to become a 22-unit affordable housing complex for senior citizens.

"We are pleased to support Valley Opportunity Council and Ashford Place Winn in their work to bring two underutilized properties back to life," said Robert L. Culver, MassDevelopment president/CEO. "Our brownfields, tax-exempt bond and insurance guaranty programs are three of the many dynamic low-cost financing resources we offer to support community revitalization, build homes and generate new jobs across the Commonwealth."

Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. is a federally designated community action agency working to support low-income individuals in Holyoke, Chicopee and the surrounding region. The organization’s renovation of the 29,000-square-foot former Mount Carmel School will enable it to expand its childcare center to serve an additional 22 children, while consolidating programs like WIC, transportation assistance, senior services, adult education and case management in one location.

"We are excited to grow our presence in Chicopee with the help of MassDevelopment and Chicopee Savings Bank," said Stephen Huntley, Valley Opportunity Council Executive Director. "The money we saved through our tax-exempt financing will allow us to increase the reach and quality of the programs so many individuals and families have come to rely on."

Ashford Place Winn II, LLC, developer of the Museum Park Apartments, is converting a former hotel located at 70 Chestnut Street in downtown Springfield into 22 units of affordable housing for individuals 55 and over. The new housing units represent the second phase of development at the Museum Park Apartments. Apartments constructed during this phase began leasing in April 2007. MassDevelopment’s brownfields financing will support the remediation of environmental contamination contained under a recently demolished parking garage adjacent to the facility.

"MassDevelopment’s brownfields financing played a key role in creating financial feasibility for this phase of the redevelopment," said Gilbert Winn, Vice President of WinnDevelopment. "Museum Park Apartments is an important historical landmark in the state, and can now be utilized long-term as a safe and attractive place to live for the City of Springfield’s elderly population."

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions and local officials to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. Between FY2004 and FY2006, MassDevelopment financed or managed 589 projects statewide representing an investment of more than $4 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 5,505 housing units and more than 23,000 jobs: 12,381 permanent and 10,679 construction-related.