1910-Vintage Pacific Mills Wool Complex Warms to $41M Affordable Housing Makeover

MassHousing has closed on a total of $40.8 million in financing to Reed Community Partners, LLC, for the creation of Pac10 Lofts, a new, 180-unit affordable and workforce housing community in the Gateway City of Lawrence, MA.

Reed Community Partners has transformed a six-story section of the former Pacific Mills textile complex into new, mixed-income housing for households across a range of incomes, including 40 workforce housing units for moderate-income families. 

Pacific Mills, a former textile mill, was originally built in 1910. The Pac10 Lofts project on Methuen Street is the first phase of a two-phase redevelopment of the mill complex. The development includes a fitness center, event space and a conference room on each floor.

MassHousing provided $17.8 million in tax-exempt permanent financing, an $18 million tax-exempt bridge loan, and $5 million from the agency’s Workforce Housing Initiative. Other financing sources included $28.8 million in tax credit equity from an allocation of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits by the Massachusetts DHCD, $2.5 million in State Historic Tax credit equity, $43.3 million in construction financing from Sterling Bank and Trust, a $3.6 million acquisition note, $3.2 million in developer financing, $210,000 in CDBG financing from the City of Lawrence, and $175,000 from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The tax credit investor was Affordable Housing Partners, Inc., an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway.