Agency closes $14.5m loan to keep senior, low-income Roxbury apartment complex affordable

By Boston.com Staff

A $14.5 million loan to help preserve affordability for senior citizens and low-income families at the 161-unit Marcus Garvey Apartments in Roxbury closed last week, according to officials at MassHousing, the independent, quasi-public agency charged with providing affordable housing financing in the Bay State.

Marcus Garvey Associates, an affiliate of SHP Acquisitions, LLC, which owns apartment complex along John Eliot Square, will seek to extend the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract and the affordability on all 161 apartments for the longest term possible, typically 20 years, when the current contract expires in November 2020, the affordable housing finance agency said in a press release.

The apartment development was refinanced through the agency's “Section 8 Proactive Preservation Program,” which seeks to extend affordability at developments the agency finances where Section 8 HAP contracts are due to expire, officials said.

As part of the refinancing, a number of capital improvements are planned at the apartment complex, including to its asphalt and concrete, the common area, elevator control system, building exterior, hallways and smoke detectors, according to the release.

The Roxbury apartment complex includes 155 one-bedroom units for the elderly located in a six-story building and six other three-bedroom units for families in a three-level townhouse building, the agency said.

"The Marcus Garvey Apartments are an important affordable housing resource for senior citizens and low-income families in Roxbury and we are very pleased that this MassHousing loan closing will preserve that affordability for many years," MassHousing executive director Thomas R. Gleason said in a statement.

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