Tax Exemption Proposed for St. Joseph's Housing Project
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — CT Equities is planning an $8 million redevelopment of the former St. Joseph's, which last operated as a high school nearly a decade ago.
On Tuesday, the City Council saw a proposed tax increment exemption to support the project. It was referred to the Community and Economic Development Committee.
In 2017, the 120-year-old St. Joseph Central High School ceased operations. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it sheltered people without homes before The Pearl, a 40-bed downtown shelter, was finished a few years ago.
The TIE would freeze the current property value base, starting at 100 percent forgiveness in the first year, decreasing by 10 percent annually over the agreement's 10-year period. The current assessed value is $1,073,500; the assessed value after redevelopment is estimated at $3,185,200.
According to council materials, one-bedroom units will cost $1,850 per month, and two-bedroom units between $1,382 and $1,950, depending on size. There will be a total of 21 one- and two-bedroom units.
In 2012, Pittsfield's City Council approved the first high-density zone under Massachusetts' Housing Development Incentive Program. It supports market-rate housing production in gateway cities through local tax increment exemptions and eligibility for up to $2.5 million in state tax credits.
Pittsfield has since expanded that HDIP zone to include the Tyler Street Business District and adjacent areas, creating 224 new housing units across 11 projects from largely commercial properties.
Former churches and schoolhouses are a popular reuse for apartments.
Last month, the Community Development Board determined that subdivision approval was not required for a plan of land the Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield submitted for 22 Maplewood Ave.
The developer says that because of the property's prolonged vacancy, it requires "significant" upgrades to be preserved, and economic conditions have created barriers for construction.
Over the last decade or so, developer David Carver, of Scarafoni Associates & CT Management Group, has been involved with several overhauls of churches, school buildings, and even a firehouse into apartments.
The Morning Star apartments, 29 market-rate units, were built in the former St. Mary of the Morning Star Church on Tyler Street; other projects are the Power House Lofts on Seymour Street and the Notre Dame Residences on Melville Street. The former Tyler Street firehouse was also transformed into four residential units.
Tags: housing, housing development, school reuse, tax exemption,
