The Needham Housing Authority is on the brink of finalizing the financing plan for a $20 million preservation and modernization project at its Seabeds Way property.
Since September, the NHA received more than $3 million in grant awards and identified cost savings that could allow the project to get underway as soon as June of next year to upgrade the four residential buildings at 22-46 Seabeds Way.
There are 46 one-bedroom units for senior and disabled households in the two-story, wood-framed buildings. Three of the buildings house 12 units and the fourth has 10 units plus a community room. They were built in 1982 and have not benefited from any comprehensive repairs since that time.
Modernization will include new bathrooms and kitchens with energy-efficient and water-saving appliances.
Exterior work will replace worn-out stairs, railings and ramps. There also will be window, roof and siding replacements, adding flashing to ensure water tightness at buildings that have had problems with mold.
When work is completed, Seabeds will have energy-efficient, all-electric buildings with improved ventilation and air-source heat pumps for heating and cooling.
The project will be the first work done under the NHA’s long-term Preservation & Redevelopment Initiative intended to upgrade most of the NHA’s 336 units at its sites at Seabeds Way, Captain Robert Cook Drive, Linden-Chambers and High Rock Estates.
The $20 million will come from multiple sources, a funding stack often referred to as the project’s financial “layer cake,” with as much as 20% possibly being derived from town sources.
The largest slice is $11.629 million in construction loans and eventual permanent loans with participation by J.P. Morgan Chase and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.
The town’s most significant contribution came this past May when Town Meeting approved $3.2 million in Community Preservation Act funds. By law, that money must be dedicated to the preservation aspects of the project.
The NHA is seeking an additional $787,000 in CPA funds in this year’s cycle which would be used for roof upgrades required to support the installation of solar panels and bring the town contribution up to $4 million.
The recent grants that effectively put the NHA over the top were a $1.84 million decarbonization award from the state Department of Energy Resources, and a $1.15 million Climate Ready Housing award from the Local Initiatives Support Corp. of Massachusetts.
The project also benefited from a drop in interest rates and savings derived during what NHA Board Chair Reg Foster described as “fine tuning” of construction documents while advancing them to the 25% completion stage.
“We’ve actually seen a decrease in the project costs of a little bit over a million dollars,” Foster said during the Dec. 8 meeting of the Town-Financed Community Housing Committee (T-CHOC) where the project was reviewed.
Timeline includes temporary relocations
The Cambridge Housing Authority is serving as the NHA’s development consultant on the project, a role it frequently plays as it leverages its extensive experience in preserving and creating new units in its own jurisdiction.
Margaret Moran of the CHA led the presentation at the T-CHOC meeting. “I have a high degree of confidence that we’re on a solid path for moving forward,” Moran said of the prospects for finalizing financing and getting the construction effort underway.
“The financing is nailed down,” added Foster. “We have letters of intent backing it up. All the remaining things to be done ought to be do-able.”
Seabeds is a federal housing property and the NHA expects to submit its financing plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in February. The current project schedule has construction bidding occurring in April, contractor selection in May and financing closed shortly after.
“I feel like we’re right where we need to be,” said Moran.
Between now and May, the CHA will be assisting the NHA with developing a relocation plan for the Seabeds tenants who will need to vacate their units during the construction project.
The buildings will be addressed one at a time, requiring the NHA to relocate tenants at 12 units before work can begin. This could include relocation to vacant units at other NHA properties where there is typically a 5% vacancy rate.
Once the 12 replacement units are found the NHA may be able to rotate other tenants between those units and Seabeds as the work proceeds on the other buildings.
The project schedule also contains a five-month “mobilization” period which means tenants may not need to vacate until late 2026 or early 2027. The extra five months is expected to be required for Eversource to increase the capacity needed to serve the newly all-electric buildings.
If construction begins as scheduled in November, the project could be completed by January 2028.
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