Affordable housing in Arlington Heights secures funding - News - The Arlington Advocate

Abbi Matheson

The project to turn the former Arlington Heights Methodist church, located at the corner of Westminster and Lowell Streets, into nine affordable housing units has secured additional state, funding.

The 20 Westminster Ave. project is slated to cost $3,975,762. Key funding came from a new Massachusetts state program, Community-Scale Housing Initiative (CSHI), which contributed $320,000 to the Westminster project. This initiative is a new, joint pilot program from the Department of Housing and Community Development and state affordable housing finance agency MassHousing. The funds go towards the creation of smaller scale affordable housing projects. Arlington is one of the first communities to receive funding from the CSHI.

“I am thrilled that our community has been awarded this grant to help increase the availability of affordable housing in Arlington,” state Sen. Cindy Friedman, D-Arlington stated in a press release.

The town of Arlington contributed $750,000 from the Community Development Block Grant and $500,000 from the Community Preservation Act. Much of the remaining funding came from the North Shore HOME Consortium--$1.35 million. Other funding came from the Brookline Bank for $625,000, Massachusetts State Historical Credits for $272,893 and the Housing and Urban Development McKinney funds for $147,869.

On Aug. 24 the Housing Corporation of Arlington invited the benefactors of the project to tour the partially-gutted building. Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash spoke at the gathering, noting that the Westminster project was exactly the kind of project state officials wanted to see being made possible by the CSHI.

Architect Andrew Cannata and Gerald Sullivan of Sullivan Buckingham Architects are responsible for fitting nine apartment units into the 1950's building at 20 Westminster Ave. No additions will be made to the building, leaving Cannata with a "puzzle" as he put it.

The first floor of Westminster will feature two handicapped-accessible units with another on the top floor specifically for residents who may be sight or hearing impaired. The top floor also features 15-foot ceilings, which Cannata noted was not enough space to make an additional floor. While most of the building's finishes will be removed and replaced, the wood banisters will be sanded down and refinished.

"[It's the] type of impact no one will notice passing by," said Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine. "Piece by piece, [we're] trying to get that housing in [while] maintaining the scale of the neighborhood."

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