BOSTON—The Boston Housing Authority has awarded a renovation project estimated at approximately $50 million to non-profit Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción in the city's South End.

The 146 units to be renovated are located adjacent to IBA's Villa Victoria 435-unit affordable housing community. IBA bested two other proposals submitted in response to the Boston Housing Authority's RFP released this past July.

Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO of IBA, says the overall cost for the project will be more than $50 million. Hard development costs related to the renovations will be $19.7 million, she tells Globest.com. IBA will lead the redevelopment of the 24 historic brick townhouses, containing the 146 existing units of federally subsidized housing located along West Newton and Rutland streets in the South End.

"We are thrilled that the Boston Housing Authority has awarded us this redevelopment which will allow us to help stabilize more families and elderly in need," says Calderón-Rosado. "In light of the competition from larger for-profit developers, we are appreciative that the BHA recognized our investment in the South End to build community for our residents. We look forward to furthering our mission with this project."

Upon completion, IBA will own the properties and the BHA will become a ground lessor under a long-term 99-year lease agreement, she adds. Part of the transaction is that the units remain affordable. Calderón-Rosado says her firm is proposing to try to utilize a number of funding sources for the project including: 4% low income housing tax credits, as well as federal and state historic tax credits. IBA is contributing $3.75 million in equity to the project. IBA's equity financing is being generated by available cash and revenues from the refinancing of other IBA properties located adjacent to the property.

"The Boston Housing Authority prides itself on our ability to look beyond the usual competitors and to seek out those who make it their business to put the interest of community first," says Bill McGonagle, Boston Housing Administrator. "The quality of IBA's proposal stood out for delivering a significant positive impact for these residents, and we look forward to working with them on this project."

Calderón-Rosado says she believes the quality of the resident services IBA provides to tenants in its properties in the South End, as well as the nearly $4 million in equity it has proposed to provide for the project were keys to it winning the competition.

The BHA and IBA will hold a series of resident and community meetings, along with design charrettes, as part of an open, public, neighborhood planning process. The first residents' meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 8).

Calderón-Rosado says that there will be significant work on the development's infrastructure, including upgrades to its heating and cooling systems as well as working to make its operations more energy efficient, including exploring the possibility of installing solar panels at the property.

IBA also plans renovations to the units' kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and windows. Other improvements are planned for the buildings' exteriors and to the development's common areas, including landscaping.

"When you look at those buildings they are beautiful, but they are tired and almost institutional," she says. "We are proposing bringing the beauty back to the façade of the buildings."

IBA, which has been in existence since 1968, performed renovations on these same South End properties in the 1980s. The IBA, an affordable housing developer in the South End, has undertaken work for the BHA in the past, including providing resident services to public housing developments. However, the contract for the West Newtown/Rutland street renovations is the first partnership development deal between IBA and the BHA.

She says IBA plans to work on securing financing for the project in 2016. Construction should take between 12 to 18 months to complete. According to the RFP, the developer has 12 months to secure financing for the project.

"I think that is a very doable timeline so in about two years we hope that this will be fully completed," she says.