COURTESY ART
An artist’s rendering of the Gateway North Residences, set to break ground on Washington Street on Tuesday.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — The Gateway North residences will break ground Tuesday, turning an eyesore into 71 mixed-income apartments.
The $31 million development to be built on a vacant Washington Street lot will feature a five-story, wood-frame building with a mix of one- two- and three-bedroom apartments and 2,000 square feet of ground floor retail.
Gateway was among the first projects to benefit from a $100 million fund to create workforce housing – tenants who don’t qualify for affordable housing but can’t afford market rate dwellings.
Under the statewide initiative, 1,000 new units of affordable housing for middle income households would be created. Up to $100,000 in subsidies will be provided for each unit.
Neighborhood Development Associates, an arm of Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development (LHAND), partnered with Boston-based Hub Holdings LLC., and bought the parcel last year for $600,000. Located across from North Shore Community College, Gateway received $5 million in state funding through a competitive process to make the project possible.
The transit-oriented development was created in response to the Washington District Master Plan, initiated by LHAND and funded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. LHAND will manage the development upon completion.
The Gateway site is being elevated by seven feet, to a 14-foot elevation, as recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Administration. Construction and permanent financing will be provided by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.
