PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
July 19, 2023
Contact: Jane McGrath
Beacon Communities and Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, Inc. Celebrate the Groundbreaking of Pok Oi Residences, a New Affordable Housing Complex in Boston’s Chinatown Neighborhood
The complex brings 85 much-needed affordable housing units to the community
Boston, MA – Beacon Communities and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, Inc. (CCBA), together with their partners, celebrated the groundbreaking of Pok Oi Residences, a new affordable housing development in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. This celebratory groundbreaking ceremony featured a speaking program of special guests including Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, State Senator Nick Collins, State Representative Aaron Michlewitz, Boston City Council President Ed Flynn, Jonathan Sun, Director General of TECO Boston, Clark Ziegler, Executive Director of Massachusetts Housing Partnership, Beacon Communities President of Development, Josh Cohen, and CCBA President, Felix Lui. Construction began earlier this year and is expected to be completed in late 2024.
CCBA recognized the development potential of the former surface parking lot property and selected Beacon Communities as its development partner in early 2019, after a competitive selection process. Designed to meet Passive House sustainability standards, Pok Oi Residences will include a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Once complete, the structure will consist of 85 LIHTC apartments, all of which will be affordable to households at or below 80% Area Median Income (AMI). In addition, nine households within the building will be occupied by those experiencing homelessness. Beacon and CCBA opted to include deeper affordability tiers beyond those required by the state’s Qualified Allocation Plan.
“Boston’s Chinatown is a cultural anchor for the entire region, and it’s an important victory to boost affordable housing in this historic neighborhood,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I’m grateful to join Beacon Communities, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England, and all of our partners to break ground on a development that will help ensure that residents and families can stay in Chinatown for generations to come.”
“We at Beacon are delighted to bring much needed affordable housing options to Boston’s Chinatown community,” shared Beacon CEO Dara Kovel. “We are immensely grateful to our partners, especially CCBA, for making this project a reality.”
“CCBA is thrilled to have partnered with Beacon Communities on this project,” said CCBA President, Felix Lui. “Through our partnership, we have been able to transform a former parking lot into a true community asset.”
The project is financed via federal LIHTCs, state LIHTCs and operating subsidy from the Department of Housing and Community Development (“DHCD”), now known as the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (“EOHLC”), soft debt from the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Housing, LIHTC equity from RBC Capital Markets, a first mortgage from Massachusetts Housing Partnership, tax-exempt bonds issued by MassDevelopment, and construction financing from Citizens Bank.
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About Beacon Communities LLC
Beacon Communities LLC is a privately owned real estate firm that develops, acquires, invests in, and manages a wide range of multi-family housing. Their portfolio includes affordable housing, market rate housing and mixed income-housing. Their developments range from new construction, to historic adaptive reuse, to the renovation of existing housing. They take on challenging developments and make them succeed. Their driving passion is to create well-designed, healthy homes that improve the quality of life of their residents and enhance the neighborhoods in which they are located. For more information about Beacon Communities LLC please visit www.beaconcommunitiesllc.com.
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