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LDS Wraps Up Busy Spring! Greetings!
Spring has been a busy and exciting time for LDS Consulting Group, LLC! The company, which provides housing and community development services, is providing expert witness testimony in a 40B case and has added appraisal services, provided financial analysis for clients, and completed numerous market studies for the latest Massachusetts funding round.
LDS is now looking forward to starting a market study for the Town of Yarmouth and Yarmouth Housing Authority for the potential development of senior and multi-family rental housing on a 19-acre site next to the Yarmouth Senior Center.
In addition, LDS gave its final presentation to the Wellesley Board of Selectmen on June 29, 2009. The presentation was the culmination of a six-month study on the supply and demand for affordable rental housing in the community.
LDS is also taking reservations for studies in connection with the HUD NOFA, expected to be released shortly. |
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LDS Adds Appraisal Services with New Affiliation
LDS has teamed up with consultant Don Taylor to provide clients with appraisal services for residential and commercial properties. The move into appraisals is a natural extension of LDS' market research services. Principal Lynne D. Sweet's background in affordable housing planning and financing is the perfect compliment to the multi-family appraisal skills of Don Taylor. Through this new affiliation, LDS' services will expand to include the following:
1. HUD rent comparability studies
2. Multi-family appraisals
3. Commercial appraisals
4. Commercial market studies, including retail, office and industrial properties.
Don is a certified general real estate appraiser with more than 15 years of experience in real estate appraising, financial analysis, underwriting and market studies. As Vice President of Investment Valuation at MMA Financial in Boston, he produced more than 150 market studies for affordable housing developments nationwide. At Capital Crossing Bank, Don appraised hundreds of retail, office, multifamily and industrial properties nationwide. These pools of commercial mortgages, which banks and the FDIC wanted to sell, included both healthy and troubled properties.
LDS and Don's first piece of work together is the appraisal of a property in Chelmsford that has received a Comprehensive Permit. LDS will provide an as-is and as-improved appraisal for five units of affordable rental housing for Chelmsford Housing Opportunities for Intergenerational and Community Endeavors, Inc. |
LDS Provides Housing Expertise in Chapter 40B Case
Principal Lynne Sweet has submitted rebuttal testimony to the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee as an expert on the need for affordable housing in the region around Sunderland where a proposed Chapter 40B project has been denied by the town. The written testimony, which supports the development, includes an analysis of the supply and demand for affordable housing in Sunderland and surrounding communities as well as a review of Smart Growth principles and their applicability to the proposed project, Sugarbush Meadows.
The 150-unit rental project, which includes 38 affordable units, is being heard by the Housing Appeals Committee after the developer appealed the Sunderland Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to deny its application for a Comprehensive Permit. The Housing Appeals Committee is expected to hear the case in September. Lynne will likely be called to testify on behalf of the developer. |
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Six Market Studies Produced for Funding Applications
LDS recently completed six market studies for affordable housing projects that are applying to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development for financing in the June 2009 funding round.
One study forecast supply and demand for a new 148-unit rental project in Hyannis, and another focused on the redevelopment of a former school building in Acton (pictured at right) into 15 units of affordable rental housing. LDS created market studies for the renovation and recapitalization of the YMCA and YWCA single room occupancy facilities in Cambridge. Another study was for the construction of a new 40-unit studio rental project in Brockton. In addition, LDS completed a market study for the adaptive re-use of the Ingraham School in New Bedford.
The projects are seeking funding from state and federal affordable housing programs and tax credits. Best of luck to our clients in what is sure to be a competitive round. |
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LDS Principal Joins Influential Boston Club
Principal Lynne Sweet has been accepted as a new member of The Boston Club, New England's largest organization for senior executive and professional women. The influential club works to develop, promote and advance women leaders by bringing them together in workshops, lecture and luncheons and offering them personal and professional development programming.
Lynne was accepted into the club in the spring after being sponsored by member Cheryl Hoffman-Bray, CFO of Education Development Center Inc. New members must meet certain criteria, which typically includes having been in a senior management position or the equivalent for at least seven years. Through her membership in The Boston Club, Lynne looks forward to meeting and supporting other professional women as she continues to grow her own business. |
* LDS recently provided financial analysis services to the Charles Hope Companies. In particular, LDS examined various financing alternatives, including costs and benefits of such financing alternatives, to assist the client in making business decisions about proceeding with a small rental housing development.
* LDS welcomes new clients Dakota Partners, Inc., the Levi-Nielson Company, Common Ground Development Corp., Chelmsford Housing Opportunities for Intergenerational and Community Endeavors, Inc., and the YWCA of Cambridge. | |
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LDS has two clients looking to sell Massachusetts State Low Income Housing Tax Credits for projects that will be eligible in 2011 for five years. Please contact Lynne D. Sweet for further details.
We are also 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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