LYNN — On 144 Market St., an empty lot will soon be transformed into 35 new affordable condominium units — including 30 one-bedroom and 5 two-bedroom condominiums — that will be available to qualifying first-time home buyers by the fall of next year.

The project is scheduled to be completed by 2027 and is being developed by Boston Real Estate Collaborative (BREC), with Haycon serving as general contractor and Monte French Design Studio (MFDS) as architect. Funding partners include MassHousing, Eastern Bank, and the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development (LHAND).

“These are not just affordable homes, they’re high-performance homes that will stand the test of time and cost less to operate,” said Brent Berc, one of the founders of BREC. Within the building, he stated that 32 of the homes will be at 80% to 100% AMI, and three of these units will be at 60% AMI, per Lynn’s Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP)

Residents will have access to everything from a fitness center, a rooftop deck with views of the Harbor, a resident lounge, bike storage, and even a pet grooming room.

“These are going to be homes that people are going to be proud to own,” Berc continued. “…When we hand the keys to these 35 new homeowners in the fall of 2027, they’ll have something that far too many Massachusetts families can’t get – a real path to building wealth, stability, and a future in the community.”

The project received $8.9 million in Commonwealth Builder (CWB) funds from MassHousing, $150,000 in HOME funds from LHAND, and construction financing from Eastern Bank. It will be a monumental investment in both Market Street and a step forward in combating the housing crisis that is impacting residents statewide, including in communities like Lynn.

Mayor Jared C. Nicholson addressed that in his remarks, and credited both the work that was done behind the scenes, both within the city and state legislature, including State Representative Sean Reid, as well as the Lynn Housing Authority.

“Here is creating an opportunity for our residents to build wealth in a community that’s majority people of color, that is one part of broader strategies to combat racial inequality and wealth inequality, and so that is meaningful,” Nicholson stated, later adding: “…it hits a lot of our goals, not just seeing development, but developing in a way that includes our residents and benefits our residents.”

After the event, those in attendance “broke ground” by placing two shovels in the dirt to mark the commencement of a project that will soon be built from the ground up in the coming year.

“For many families across Massachusetts, it’s extremely hard and home ownership is so challenging and feels so out of reach, especially with rising costs, limited inventory, and long strings of inequities, some of which the Mayor mentioned,” said Tony Richards, the vice president of Equitable Business Development at Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency at MassHousing. “Which makes it extremely hard for first-time buyers to achieve what most of us know is the American dream…we look forward to coming back here for the ribbon cutting.”