Historic Mission Chapel redevelopment receives $3.1M in financing

Photo | Courtesy of MassDevelopment An adaptive reuse project will create seven apartments at the former Mission Chapel on Summer Street in Worcester.

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By Timothy Doyle

MassDevelopment and Bay State Savings Bank of Worcester combined to provide $3.1 million in construction financing for the developers of Mission on Summer, a seven-unit redevelopment of the historic Mission Chapel on Summer Street in Worcester.

The $4.4-million project will transform the former Mission Chapel, built by industrialist Ichabod Washburn in 1854 into seven market-rate apartments.

MassDevelopment is providing a $1.5-million tax credit bridge loan while Bay State is providing a $1.6-million construction-to-permanent first mortgage loan, according to a Wednesday press release from MassDevelopment.

Mission on Summer, led by principals Nan Porter and Matt Kiefer, is working in partnership with Boston-based developer, The Traggorth Companies, and the Worcester-based design-build firm Sustainable Comfort.

Raymond James Restoration, Inc. of Worcester is performing historic restoration on the chapel.

The project is also being supported by $900,000 in Housing Development Incentive Program tax credits issued through the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as both state and federal historic building tax credits, and was approved to receive a 40% tax exemption from the City over eight years.

“We are gratified to return this historic gem to active use as seven distinctive apartments in a premier location near downtown Worcester, Saint Vincent Hospital, Union Station and the Canal District,” Mission on Summer Principal Nan Porter said in the Wednesday announcement from MassDevelopment. “We’re enormously grateful for the support we’ve received at every turn from the City of Worcester, Preservation Worcester, and our lenders at Bay State Savings Bank and MassDevelopment.”