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Greetings!
LDS Consulting Group, LLC is pleased to announce that its services have once again led to concrete results!
All four of the affordable rental housing projects that were supported by LDS market studies in the Commonwealth Department of Housing and Community Development's fall 2008 rental round have been awarded funding. The developments will receive a total of more than $11 million through state and federal affordable housing programs and tax credits.
They will yield a total of 226 apartments, 173 of which will be affordable to households earning at or below 60% of area median income. One of the projects, pictured here, is for the redevelopment of the Sacred Heart Church in Lawrence by ETC Development.
Congratulations to our clients! |
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LDS Work Brings Exciting Results
As a technical consultant for the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative Program, LDS worked for the Town of Southbridge in 2007, examining vacant building issues in the downtown area. 
LDS' study provided a range of solutions, funding mechanisms and a case study on the redevelopment of the historic vacant Memorial Hall building (pictured here). A person attending the LDS case study presentation contacted a developer who has since bought the building. The developer plans to completely renovate the building for mixed-use affordable housing over retail with the assistance of HDSP fundiing. It will be the first LEED certified building in Southbridge.
Another success story is LDS' client Nuestra Communidad, which is one of only three nonprofit sponsors in Massachusetts to receive a HUD 202 allocation for a senior housing development in January. Nuestra Communidad plans to develop a 40-unit affordable senior rental project with first-floor retail in Roxbury, MA. LDS supported Nuestra's funding application by providing a supply and demand analysis. Congratulations Nuestra. |
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Team Wins Bid to Provide Feasibility Services in Yarmouth
After a highly competitive process that included 50+ parties requesting the RFP, 11 submitting responses and 5 teams having interviews, the consulting team that includes LDS has been selected to provide housing development and feasibility services to the Town of Yarmouth and Yarmouth Housing Authority. The team, led by Mostue & Associates Architects, Inc., will examine the feasibility of developing rental housing on approximately 19 acres of vacant land on Forest Road.
The local housing authority, which owns the land, plans to develop affordable senior rental housing on the property and could possibly add family rental housing at a later date. LDS will conduct a market study and needs analysis for senior and family housing at the site, which will determine the degree of need for both types of housing at different income levels.
The other team members include development consultant Sharon Loewenthal and land planning and civil engineering firm DeVellis Zrein Inc.
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New Study Work Performed for Women's Institute
 LDS has completed two market studies for the Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development, continuing its relationship with the Boston-based affordable housing developer. The studies focused on existing buildings in New Bedford and Cambridge, and both will be used in funding applications to the state.
The New Bedford study forecast supply and demand for the redevelopment of the former Ingraham School building (pictured at right) to 19 units of supportive rental housing for low-income and homeless families, commercial space and community-based tenants.
In Cambridge, LDS' study focused on the subsantial renovation and upgrading of commerical space and 100+ single room occupancy affordable rental units for single women at the YWCA of Cambridge. |
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LDS Happenings
* Principal Lynne Sweet will moderate and participate on a panel on Housing First and Rapid Rehousing for New England Women in Real Estate's Housing and Community Development Group on April 24, 2009 at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.
* Look for the LDS exhibitor table at the Urban Land Institute Boston's Urban Marketplace on May 4, 2009 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The event includes luncheon keynote speaker Congressman Barney Frank and interactive roundtable discussions led by developers and planners.
* LDS staff attended a workshop on Housing Production Plans (HPP) on April 15, 2009, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development. DHCD staff explained the new HPP regulations, stressing the importance of community involvement in the creation and approval of plans. The presentation also included an overview of the variety of tools municipalities can use to increase affordable housing.
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* Principal Lynne Sweet was recently quoted as an expert in the fields of affordable housing and senior housing in two news articles. The Brookline Tab article was about the feasibility of an affordable homeownership development proposed in that community, and the Boston Business Journal article focused on the over-55 housing market.
* Principal Lynne Sweet wrote a guest article in the Sun Chronicle on the redevelopment of a site in Wrentham, MA.
* Research Associate Eunice Kim has been accepted to Tufts University's Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program. She plans to start the master's degree program later this year. | |
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We are currently taking reservations for studies for the summer HUD and LIHITC funding rounds and are looking to partner with clients and consultants on new projects.
Sincerely,
Lynne D. Sweet
Managing Member
LDS Consulting Group, LLC 233 Needham Street, Newton, MA |
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