The Neighborhood Developers

CHELSEA

The Neighborhood Developers has transformed the former Box District in Chelsea into a new residential neighborhood in town, with affordable homeownership, market and affordable rental housing, and a beautiful new city park that serves as a focal point for the neighborhood.

The Neighborhood Developers (TND) is a non-profit development organization based in Chelsea.  In 2004, Ann Houston, an experienced affordable housing developer, assumed the role of executive director of the newly-reconstituted organization, and embarked on an ambitious plan to focus on the so-called “Box District”, just outside the downtown area, dominated by under-utilized manufacturing facilities and vacant land.  Though it had very poor infrastructure, and almost no existing residential stock, the Box District was ideally located to serve as a new “in-town” neighborhood, because of its proximity to downtown Chelsea, transit lines, commercial services, and new public improvements.

TND has built three residential projects in the Box District, Janus Highlands, a 41 unit affordable rental development, Box Works Homes, a 26 unit mixed-income homeownership project, and Highland Terrace, a 32 unit rental development.  TND also has partnered with a private developer to build Atlas Lofts, a 53 unit re-use of a former factory building, as a very successful rental development.  The city of Chelsea has made major investment in new public infrastructure in the areas: new sidewalks, streets, lighting, and a new city park adjacent to Highland Terrace.  TND enjoys strong municipal support from the city of Chelsea, and has been invited into the city of Revere by the city’s mayor.

TLI understood how important TND’s work was, and how useful access to flexible capital was to its success.  TLI has provided TND with a working capital line of credit to help finance its predevelopment needs on its last three rental housing developments.  TLI has now financed the site acquisition costs for those last three rental housing development s as well, including that for Highland Terrace, where TLI financed the purchase of the housing site, as well as that for the city park.  And when TND badly needed subordinate construction financing for Highland Terrace, TLI stepped in to provide the debt.

• Working capital line of credit
• Land loan to acquire and hold sites
• Subordinate construction debt financing