The Claremont Grafton, a mixed income rental housing development, is slated to be built at 5-9 Millennium Drive, adjacent to the MBTA commuter rail station in the town’s Chapter 40R smart growth district.

The Claremont will comprise 113 one-bedroom, 95 two-bedrooms and 25 three-bedroom units throughout two five-story buildings.  One building will contain 123 apartments and the other will contain 110. Forty-seven of the 233 units will be designated as affordable housing as required by state law.

“MassHousing is thrilled to support the development of Claremont Grafton, bringing new housing to a smart growth location, and providing more housing choices to households who live and work in Worcester County,” said a release from  Chrystal Kornegay, CEO of MassHousing. “Momentum equity has now accelerated construction on nearly 500 new homes. Thanks to the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s Affordable Homes Act, we are putting innovative finance to work at scale, and working collaboratively to address the state’s housing needs.” 

This is the third financing commitment by the Healey –Driscoll Administration under the Momentum Fund, a first-in-the-nation state revolving fund to support mixed-income housing production. 

The Momentum Fund is the largest housing bond bill commitment to date in the state. Its goal is to accelerate housing production – especially middle-income units – without relying on typical grant and subsidy resources.

The concept leverages low-cost capital with the input of private developers and incentivizes already permitted housing projects to begin construction. 

MassHousing aims to support the creation of more than 1,000 new units of multifamily housing with $50 million of state investment capital and is evaluating how to further expand this goal with co-investment partnerships. 

 “Building more housing will drive down costs for residents and businesses across the state,” said Governor Maura Healey. “The Momentum Fund is proving to be a successful new tool to accelerate the development of the multifamily housing we need.” 

Momentum Fund financing will support the development of Claremont Grafton. The sponsor is the Claremont Corporation. MassHousing has committed $9 million in public equity financing to the project, and will partner with Berkadia, a real estate leader offering services to commercial and multi-family housing clients,  to provide the project with taxable permanent financing from Freddie Mac.

“Claremont has been providing quality housing to Massachusetts residents for over 57 years. We are very grateful for Governor Healey’s program to assist more construction for the needed housing shortage in the Commonwealth,” said Patrick Carney, Chairman & CEO of Claremont Companies.