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Developments > Brewery Main Block

Brewery Main Block



Project at a Glance:
Location:
Boston
Development Type:
Commercial
Project Type:
Historic renovation/adaptive reuse of former brewery
MHIC Financing:
$810,700 in debt financing, $11,371,208 in NMTC financing
Sponsor:
Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation
Date Completed:
8/24/2009

This project represents the final phase of the redevelopment of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation’s (JPNDC) historic renovation of the former Haffenreffer Brewery, a project started 26 years ago. MHIC financed the project in phases.
In 2005, MHIC provided a combination New Markets/Historic Tax Credit investment of $6.9 million to help fill the financing gap for the adaptive reuse and renovation of the final eight buildings -- the “Main Block” of buildings -- within this 16-building industrial complex, and its transformation into an incubator for local enterprise and light industry.
In 2008, MHIC provided an additional $4.5 million in New Markets/Historic Tax Credit financing to fund the rehabilitation and build-out of the remaining 10,000 square feet of space. Bella Luna, a popular local restaurant, is the anchor tenant.
Conceived by JPNDC as a small business center, the complex today, formally known as the Small Business Center, houses more than 50 businesses employing over 500 employees – twice the number employed by Heffenreffer in its heyday. With a café, sit-down restaurant, fitness center, music school and dance studio among its tenants, the SBC has also become a popular community gathering place. JPNDC also operates a small business technical assistance program that helps businesses locate to the SBC, expand, move to larger spaces, and prosper.