Three Affordable Complexes Change Hands

BOSTON-In one of the largest affordable housing transactions in Massachusetts this year, a buyer of affordable housing complexes has acquired three Bay State communities. The $77-million deal gives the new owner more than 1,000 units in three Massachusetts cities.

Affiliates of the New York City-based Related Apartment Preservation, which specializes in affordable housing, acquired the complexes in Worcester, Lowell and Amherst from partnerships syndicated by MMA Financial Inc., David Fournier with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler's Atlanta office tells GlobeSt.com. "They're really just great complexes." They include Washington Heights Apartments, a 404-unit community in Worcester that sold for $29.6 million and Westminster Village, a 432-unit property in Lowell, which traded for $37.5 million. Also part of the deal was a 200-unit community called Village Park Apartments in Amherst, which sold for $10 million.

All three were originally developed with financing from either the federal department of Housing and Urban Development or MassHousing and all had Section 8 rental assistance contracts. Fournier says the new owners plan to keep all the units as affordable housing. Under HUD restrictions, they complexes cannot be converted into condominiums for future resale.

Despite those HUD restrictions, Fournier, who handled the properties for the seller, says the three offerings brought "a sizable amount of interest" from institutional and private investors nationwide, primarily because of the quality of the assets and the limited availability of large apartment communities in Massachusetts. Mark Carbone, president of Related Apartment Preservation, part of the New York City-based the Related Cos., says in a statement that they were well-maintained assets that fit in well with the company's existing portfolio.

Carbone could not be reached by GlobeSt.com for further comment. According to the company's website, however, the properties are the first affordable units acquired by Related Apartment Preservation in Massachusetts. The firm's other holdings include complexes in Florida, New York, Texas, Michigan and Illinois.