HAPHousing of Springfield will be able to apply for tax credits that would contribute a good portion of the projected $9 million to $10 million project cost.
Rudy Perkins, HAPHousing project manager and staff attorney, stands before plans for Olympia Oaks in Amherst. The project received a $95,000 loan to help with design work on the affordable housing project. AMHERST – While plans to build to a 42-unit affordable housing project are before the Zoning Board of Appeals, the agency developing the project recently received a loan that will help it proceed with development work that will help lead to additional funding.
The Boston-based Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation awarded the Olympia Oaks project a loan of $95,500. HAPHousing, the Springfield-based nonprofit housing assistance agency, is working with the Northampton-based Valley Community Development Corp. on the project.
The community development finance company provides technical assistance, pre-development lending and consulting services to non-profit organizations involved in housing developments, among other projects.
Olympia Oaks on Olympia Drive is intended to provide affordable rents for people who earn 60 percent of the area’s median income.
HAP is currently seeking a comprehensive permit for the project from the Zoning Board of Appeals. The next hearing date is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
Rudy Perkins, HAP project manager and staff attorney, said the loan allows HAP to continue with design work that will enable the agency to apply for funding for the project. “It gets us in a position where we can go forward,” he said. He said the town has been very generous with the pre-development work, but the money is not endless.
The town, which has continued to support the project, has contributed community block grant and community preservation money, including $340,000 in pre-development costs.
HAP will be able to apply for tax credits that would contribute a good portion of the projected $9 million to $10 million project cost. If approved, the project could begin in the spring of 2012, and some units could be ready at the end of 2012, Perkins said earlier this year. Most likely, the units would be ready in 2013.
The town took the 27-acre site, 13.5 acres of which is suitable for housing, in the late 1980s by eminent domain and had planned to develop a project in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts, which owns land nearby. UMass decided not to proceed, so in 2004 the town secured a $50,000 appropriation to prepare for development.