Williamstown Housing Trust provides $80,000 to support Phase 3 cable factories / iBerkshires.com

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The city’s Affordable Housing Trust board agreed in principle last week to provide an additional $80,000 in city funds to support the third phase of Cable Mills housing development on Water Street.

Developer David Traggorth asked the administrators to make a contribution from the treasury to free up another $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment complex on the south side of the Cable Mills site.

In 2022, the annual town meeting approved an expenditure of $400,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to support the third and final phase of Cable Mills development, which began with the restoration and remodeling of the former mill building and continued with construction of apartment buildings along the river. Green River.

The city’s CPA funds are part of the financing mix because 28 of the 54 units of Phase 3 (52 percent) will be designated as affordable housing for residents making up to 60 percent of the region’s median income.

Traggorth said he hopes to break ground by August on Phase 3, which has been postponed due to rising construction costs that forced the developer to redo the financial plan for the apartment complex.

He showed administrators a spreadsheet showing how the total cost of the project has increased by about $6 million over the 2022 budget.

“Most of that is driven by construction costs,” he said. “Some of it is driven by the increase in interest rates. If it costs us more to borrow, we can’t borrow as much.”

Traggorth said he has discussed the cost escalation with state officials who have agreed to increase Commonwealth financial support for Phase 3 — with a catch.

“Overall, the message from the state was, ‘We understand the problem. You’re not alone,'” he said. “One of the things they’re demanding is that if you go to (the state) and ask for more money, you also have to make sure that the city of Williamstown is A) still on board with the project and B) can bear their part of an additional amount.”

Traggorth said his company, Causeway Development, is also working to close the gap between 2022 and 2024 construction costs by deferring some of the reimbursement.

The city’s additional $80,000 represents 20 percent of the original 2022 contribution and is commensurate with both higher construction costs and the expected increase in state aid.

“(The city’s contribution) was $400,000 out of a $31 million project,” Traggorth said. “Now it would be about $480,000 of a $36 million project.”

The AHT board voted 5-1, with one member, Daniel Gura, absent, to pledge $80,000 to support Phase 3. The board will have to vote later, likely this spring or summer, to finalize the commitment to complete and release the money. .

Board member Robin Malloy voted against making the commitment and explained later in the meeting that she thought the local housing association could find better ways to use its funds.

“I feel like (the developer) is clearly making a lot of money on this project,” Malloy said. ‘They get much denser housing than would otherwise be the case. I feel like we could use that $80,000 for entities that don’t have other resources. I would rather use that money to give to people to help them buy those houses. .

“Eighty thousand dollars isn’t much for Causeway Development. It’s more for us. I feel like we could put the money to better use.”

Thomas Sheldon, a founding board member of the Affordable Housing Trust, pointed out that the additional $80,000 in trust funds to allow for the construction of 28 affordable units is “a bargain” for the trust.

“I think those units would still be built anyway,” Malloy replied.

“That’s an assumption,” Sheldon said. ‘We don’t know for sure. When we gave the money to Highland Woods, we didn’t know it would make a difference. But it happened. It has long been an article of faith between cities and the state. in terms of these types of situations.”

While appearing virtually before the AHT board, Traggorth provided some updates on the 13 affordable units in the 61-unit Phase 1 of Cable Mills.

The developer said all 13 units are currently occupied and, like the rest of Cable Mills, are being converted from rentals to apartments. Like the rental units, the ownership units will remain affordable in perpetuity.

The affordable units are being marketed for between $155,000 and $180,000, depending on size. The average sales price for the other 48 units in Phase 1 is around $650,000, Traggorth said.

Traggorth said people living in Phase 1 units will, by right, have five years from the date the condo conversion began to purchase or move. To date, at least one resident of an affordable rental property has purchased it as an affordable condominium, with assistance from the Affordable Housing Trust’s DeMayo Mortgage Assistance Program; AHT board chairman Andrew Hogeland said at the April 17 meeting that at least one more DeMayo MAP application for a Cable Mills apartment is in the pipeline.

Traggorth said Cable Mills tenants have about 3 1/2 years left on the original five-year term. He said he hopes Phase 3 will be built in time so they can move from the former mill building to the new apartments if they want to stay in rental units.

Phase 3 – unlike phase 1 – is intended as permanent rental housing. And all 41 planned affordable units (13 in Phase 1, 28 in Phase 3) will be restricted as affordable under the AMI deed.

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