Tenant Association Buys, Renovates South End Rental Housing with MassDevelopment Bond Purchased by Boston Private Bank & Trust

January 18, 2012

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
David Koven, Brownstone Apartments, 617-332-9290
Kait Muhlfelder, Boston Private Bank, 617-912-3684

MassDevelopment and Boston Private Bank & Trust Company have partnered to provide Brownstone Apartments, LLC with $6.64 million in tax-exempt bond financing. The bond proceeds will be used to purchase and renovate a 75-unit rental housing complex in Boston’s South End. All of the units are affordable, with 73 units rented to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income and two units rented to households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income. Low Cost Tenants Association, the project’s sponsor, is a nonprofit cooperative of apartment residents who work to maintain its affordability. Renovations include repairing exterior masonry and stonework; replacing windows, kitchen cabinets, flooring, and bath accessories; retiling; resurfacing; and painting. MassDevelopment issued the bond that Boston Private Bank & Trust purchased.

“MassDevelopment is pleased to support Brownstone’s tenants as they purchase and renovate their facility,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “Reasonably-priced housing helps attract residents and businesses, and this low-cost financing will help make these South End apartments more attractive and livable.”

“Many people and agencies worked hard to help us both maintain control of our homes and invest in rehabilitating these wonderful old buildings – HUD, the City of Boston Neighborhood Housing Trust, the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, and Peabody Properties. However, I’d have to put MassDevelopment and Boston Private Bank & Trust at the top of the list,” said Jean Niane, Low Cost's President and a longtime resident. “We are talking about our homes here, and we are not going to gamble with that, and we did not ask MassDevelopment or the Bank to gamble either. We all wanted the same thing, and we’re grateful for their willingness to work with us patiently to find the most efficient and safest way for our homes to continue to be both affordable and well-kept.”

“Working with the Low Cost Tenants Association on this financing is about preserving a significant resource for the City of Boston: affordable housing in a rapidly escalating rental housing market,” said Mark Thompson, CEO and President of Boston Private Bank & Trust. “We are also pleased to partner with MassDevelopment on such an important preservation initiative.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2011, MassDevelopment financed or managed more than 300 projects generating investment of $3.8 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 10,000 jobs (2,547 permanent and 8,129 construction), and build or rehabilitate more than 1,000 residential units.

Established in 1987, Boston Private Bank & Trust Company offers highly personalized deposit and cash management, commercial lending, residential mortgage and investment management and trust services. The Bank is headquartered in Boston, with offices in New England, Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, and operates as Borel Private Bank & Trust Company, a division of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bank is an active provider of financing for affordable housing, first-time homebuyers, economic development, social services, community revitalization and small business. Boston Private Bank & Trust Company is a subsidiary of Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPFH). For further information, visit www.bostonprivatebank.com.