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Meadowbrook Apartments

491 Bridge Road
Florence, MA 01062
  • Meadowbrook Apartments exterior
  • Meadowbrook Apartments exterior and entrance
  • Meadowbrook Apartments unit livingroom
  • Meadowbrook Apartments unit kitchen
Deal Type: 
Acquisition/Rehab
Year Built: 
1974
Acquisition Date: 
2004
Last Renovation: 
2019
Number of Units: 
252
Tenancy: 
Family

Meadowbrook Apartments includes 252 rental homes set attractively on a 26-acre wooded site on the outskirts of Northampton, Massachusetts.

As Meadowbrook neared the end of its mortgage restrictions in 2001, the owner made public his intention to convert the apartments to market rents or condominiums.

POAH began working with the Meadowbrook team in 2003. As with most preservation transactions, the project's financing drew from a number of sources, including tax-exempt bonds from MassHousing, a loan from the state's Capital Improvement and Preservation Fund (CIPF), Community Development Block Grant funds from the City of Northampton, and syndication proceeds from the sale of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). This complex deal took nearly a year to orchestrate; POAH purchased the Meadowbrook property in December 2004.

Nearly $4 million in renovations followed the purchase, including significant work to make the buildings more watertight and impervious to moisture. Many kitchens and baths were upgraded, and the community building received substantial improvements to its accessibility.

Since the initial rehab in 2005, POAH completed a refinancing of the property's first mortgage with MassHousing and HUD which, in conjunction with the MA LEAN initiative, allowed for $1 million of upgrades in 2018 and 2019, including replacement of boilers and heating systems, roof replacement and additional site work.

Project Partners

  • City of Northampton
  • Valley Community Development Corporation
  • HAP, Inc.
  • CEDAC (Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation)
  • DHCD (MA Dept. of Housing and Community Development)
  • US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
  • MassHousing