Covenant Residences / 27-29 and 35 Commonwealth Avenue

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Community Housing
27-29 and 35 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

Goals

Create 15 homeownership units with a total of 21 bedrooms (9 units with 1 bedroom, 6 units with 2 bedrooms), affordable in perpetuity to households earning up to 80 percent of area median income, in a mixed-income development that combines 13 units in a rehabilitated building with 44 units in a new building, for a total of 62 bedrooms.

Funding

$1,207,825	CPA funds appropriated (community housing), including $7,825 for City of Newton legal services
$300,000	Reimbursement to Newton's Community Preservation Fund based on revenue-sharing provisions in grant agreement, which required partial repayment of CPA grant if sales of market-rate units generated specified minimum revenue targets.
$907,825	Net CPA funds spent (community housing)

Other Funding Sources

$500,000	Only other public funds, from Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust
$16,222,886	Costs covered by sales revenue from housing units & parking spaces (sold separately)
$17,630,711	Estimated Total Project Cost

Contact

Ms. Susan Gittelman
B'nai B'rith Housing New England
34 Washington Street
Brighton, MA 02135
susan@bbhousing.org
617-731-5291
617-739-0124 (Fax)

Proposal Review & Appropriations

19 December 2005 - Initial proposal to Newton CPC: summary & full proposal, B'nai B'rith Board members
- Attachments 1: finances (budgets, valuation, etc.)
- Attachments 2: maps, plans, elevations, traffic study
- Attachments 3: need for & distribution of affordable housing in Newton, letters of support
28 December 2005 - Alternative version of same proposal: "One-Stop" Application for Newton Housing Funds
24 March 2006 - Updated project budget
5 April 2006 - CPC funding recommendation, including initial revenue-sharing proposal
1 May 2006 - Board order (appropriation)

Project News

5 February 2007 - Final revenue-sharing agreement
9 May 2008 - Project opening (photos)
15 July 2009 - Maximum $300,000 returned to Newton's Community Preservation Fund
16 December 2010 - Project wins the Urban Land Institute's Jack Kemp Award for workforce housing (photos)
24 November 2014 - State cost & revenue analysis; final developer profit confirmed as 12.55%
- The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency is required to audit each project constructed with a Comprehensive Permit (MGL Ch. 40B), to confirm both costs and revenue. State law requires the developer to return any profit above 20 percent from such a development to the local community, for the support of affordable housing.