Renderings of the South Holyoke Homes construction project that will add 40 affordable housing units to the city.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HOLYOKE — South Holyoke Homes Phase 3 project, a 40-unit affordable rental building on the corner of South East Street and Sargeant Street, received two different sources of funding from the state to conduct an environmental assessment and to begin construction on the parcel.
The Healey-Driscoll administration announced $182 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies to 21 rental housing developments that will create or preserve 1,245 homes across Massachusetts, including the South Holyoke Homes Phase 3 construction project.
South Holyoke Homes Phase 3 is a new construction family housing project in Holyoke. The sponsor, Housing Innovations and Programming Inc., is working with the Holyoke Housing Authority to support more affordable housing production.
When completed, the project will offer 40 units. All units will be affordable for households earning less than 60% of area median income. Ten units will be further restricted to households earning less than 30% of area median income and, in some cases, transitioning from homelessness.
Holyoke Housing Authority Executive Director Matthew Mainville and Development Director Sarah Meier-Zimbler talked to Reminder Publishing about the project and how the funding will be utilized.
This project will be the final phase of the three-phase project. Phase 1 of the project added 12 units of rental and Phase 2 is currently under construction and will add 20 units of affordable housing by late summer/early fall.
“We were extremely excited to have received the news,” Mainville stated, “We appreciate the Healey administration, it’s commitment to housing and housing in the entirety of the commonwealth, even out here in Western Massachusetts.”
There is a demand for affordable housing, according to Mainville. He said when the 12 units from Phase 1 became available, the property received over 1,000 applications.
Gov. Maura Healey discussed the funding for low-income housing in different municipalities. She said, “Our administration is working on all fronts to build more reasonably-priced housing and lower costs for everyone. These awards are creating thousands of apartments that people can actually afford. This is helping seniors age independently and close to their families, and helping workers afford to live in the communities where their jobs are.”
The Executive Office of Economic Development and MassDevelopment joined state and local officials to announce $6.5 million in awards from the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund to support the environmental assessment and cleanup of 20 contaminated sites across Massachusetts for redevelopment.
The funding included $35,000 to Housing Innovations and Programming Inc. to assess 662 South East St. in Holyoke, the .85-acre site where the organization plans to build the new 40-unit affordable housing facility.
Sarah Meier-Zimbler explained that the brownsfield funding is for environmental issues generally in the soil. The funding was used to assess the vacant, former municipal lots.
Meier-Zimbler said, “They all had buildings on them at one point that burned or were demolished, and so there’s a lot of unknowns in the soil of what’s there and what’s going to impact the site, and so the funding that we got was to do the assessment to identify any known remediation issues for the Phase 3 project.”
The testing found that there are a couple areas that need to have special remediation, but Mainville stated, “The products of those issues that have been identified already are not overly critical in nature and they are fairly innocuous conditions that have to be addressed.”
The Housing Authority will be applying for a remediation grant from the state.
Mainville said the hope is for financial closing and the start of construction for Phase 3 to happen synonymously in early 2027.
Sarah Meier-Zimbler mentioned that the four corners of Carlos Vega Park have had vacant parcels for over 25 years, but based on activities of the city, residents and the Holyoke Housing Authority, there is now housing on the vacant parcels.
“We’re excited about the fact that this will really change the landscape of that particular neighborhood,” Mainville stated.
