Plan to transform two former Catholic faculties into inexpensive housing advances in Salem
The long run Residences at St. James Faculty will encompass 32 inexpensive residences for individuals 62 and older. Hawthorne Lofts — the previous St. Mary’s Faculty — could have 24 inexpensive and 5 market-rate residences. Among the loft residences could have a choice for artists.
“With the price of housing on the rise, we’re excited to supply new housing alternatives to seniors and artists, who desperately want it,” mentioned Mickey Northcutt, CEO of Salem-based North Shore CDC.
Along with the latest state award, the financing package deal consists of federal and state historic tax credit, and funding Salem supplied from its Neighborhood Preservation Act revenues and the federal HOME program.
Along with a mixture of studio, one-, and two-bedroom residences, the mission will carry new life to 2 historic red-brick buildings. The four-story St. James college was inbuilt 1906, and the three-story St. Mary’s in 1941.
“Each faculties are historic gems that will likely be meticulously restored to Nationwide Park Service design requirements,” Northcutt mentioned.
“With excessive ceilings and further giant home windows that present a lot of pure gentle, these new residences will likely be an attractive place to name house and can present high-quality inexpensive housing,” mentioned Jennifer Kolodziej, mission supervisor for North Shore CDC.
“I’m glad to see the North Shore CDC’s tasks at each of those websites shifting ahead,” Kim Driscoll mentioned earlier than leaving workplace as mayor to turn out to be lieutenant governor. “Each will add to the supply of much-needed inexpensive housing in our neighborhood and signify alternatives to additionally protect and enliven once-vacant buildings.
“I’m grateful for his or her investments in each tasks and their dedication to increasing inexpensive housing right here in Salem,” she added. Driscoll additionally cited “metropolis employees, housing advocates, and present and former members of the Metropolis Council and Planning Board who labored so diligently to place in place the zoning modifications crucial to permit these tasks to occur, to create this new housing, and to avoid wasting these signature buildings.”
The 29 residences at Hawthorne Lofts will embody eight items for these incomes as much as 30 p.c of the world median revenue, which is $140,200 for a household of 4; 16 for these incomes as much as 60 p.c; and 5 at market price.
The 32 residences on the Residences at St. James for these 62 and older will embody eight items for households incomes as much as 30 p.c of the world median revenue and 24 for these incomes as much as 60 p.c.
Rents will likely be set because the mission nears building.
St. Mary’s Faculty closed within the Nineteen Seventies, and St. James Faculty closed within the Eighties. The 2 parishes merged in 2017 into the consolidated Mary Queen of Apostles.
In 2018, the Archdiocese of Boston chosen North Shore CDC to redevelop the 2 former college buildings. The coalition in 2019 entered right into a 99-year floor lease with the archdiocese for each properties.
“Given its residential neighborhood setting and shut proximity to downtown, public transit, and being simply steps away from the senior middle,” mentioned Northcutt, North Shore CDC’s CEO, “we felt the previous St. James Faculty … was the right location to carry much-needed senior housing into the neighborhood.”
He added that Hawthorne Lofts can also be effectively located within the coronary heart of the downtown and inside strolling distance of the Salem Frequent, the waterfront, Peabody Essex Museum, and North Shore CDC’s Punto City Artwork Museum.
The general mission is focused for completion in early 2025.
John Laidler will be reached at [email protected].
