Showing how it’s done
Part and parcel with MHP’s efforts to help communities support more housing is its ability to work with developers to see these locally initiated affordable developments through to fruition. A recent example is Tavernier Place in Acton.
Tavernier Place was built by Common Ground, the development subsidiary of Community Teamwork Inc., a Lowell-based regional non-profit. It features 31 one-bedroom apartments for seniors. Eight are for households earning no more than 30 percent of the Area Medium Income (AMI) and 23 are for households earning no more than 60 percent AMI. That’s much needed in a town where the median price of a single-family home is almost $800,000 and finding anything affordable to downsize to is next to impossible.
MHP’s lending team supported Tavernier Place with a $2.35 million permanent loan commitment from its bank-funded loan pool. It also provided an additional $193,000 from its Housing Reserve Assurance Program (RAP) to help fill a development budget gap caused by supply chain issues and additional site remediation to remove more ledge than was expected.
Not the first time
This is not the first time MHP has partnered with Common Ground to create housing in the suburbs. More than 20 years ago, MHP worked in Acton to create the public support necessary to OK the reuse of the historic Towne School as affordable housing. Common Ground was selected by the town as the developer and transformed the school into 15 affordable rental homes for families.
At the same time, MHP was working with nearby Westford on how to use a 166-acre, town-owned site. Over the next 15 years, the town built a junior high school, athletic fields, and 51 affordable rental apartments. Once again, Common Ground was the developer. All told, 46 of these units are either two- or three-bedroom apartments for families. MHP financed both phases.
Tavernier Place is the latest example of Common Ground’s ability to work with communities. Fittingly, it is across the street from the Towne School and named after Nancy Tavernier, a local leader that MHP worked with on the Towne initiative and many others. Nancy's commitment to affordable housing goes all the way back to 1987, when she was appointed to the Acton Community Housing Corporation (ACHC) board while serving as selectman and continuing when she became volunteer chair in 2000. Both the ACHC and Acton Housing for All were critical in moving this development forward.
Leadership legacy
Common Ground has been a key partner for MHP thanks to its dedicated leadership and commitment to expanding affordable housing opportunities beyond its core urban area into the suburbs. Karen Frederick has been with CTI since 1978 and has been its CEO since 2003. Bill Lipchitz was Common Ground’s longtime real estate director. Consultants Steve Joncas and Rick Lefferts have worked on many of their projects.
Tavernier Place is sort of a last hurrah for the CTI leadership team. Lipchitz retired in 2022. Joncas took his place and retired in 2023. Frederick is set to retire in 2024. Rachelly Bartolotta has joined CTI as Common Ground’s new director after stints at Lawrence Community Works and the Boston Housing Authority. She is carrying on the organization’s tradition, currently working on a 56-unit housing proposal in Dracut.
“CTI and Common Ground have been successful in identifying opportunities and partnering with communities to increase affordable housing,” said Bartolotta. “It’s part of our mission to make sure that people who need an affordable home have freedom of choice of where to live, which is why we’re so proud of the housing that’s been built in Acton and Westford.”
Common Ground is one of a handful of regional non-profits MHP has partnered with to develop affordable housing in the suburbs. Like Harborlight Community Partners on the North Shore and MetroWest Community Development, just to name two, they are essential to getting community-initiated housing efforts across the finish line.
“MHP’s work with communities would not have borne the results it has without the efforts of mission-driven developers like Common Ground,” said Clark Ziegler, MHP’s Executive Director. “We are deeply grateful for their leadership team’s willingness to tackle these local initiatives that create more housing.”
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"It’s part of our mission to make sure that people who need an affordable home have freedom of choice of where to live, which is why we’re so proud of the housing that’s been built in Acton and Westford.”
- Rachelly Bartolotta, Director of Common Ground