Manager of Gateway Residences on Washington, Hub Holdings LLC donate $10,000 to Lynn School

Gateway Residences on Washington, 700 Washington Street - Lynn, MA

Lynn, MA Development managers of the planned Gateway Residences on Washington donated $10,000 to the Lynn Technical and Vocational High School Community Enrichment Program for adult education and training for residents of the city.

Managers of the mixed-use project, Hub Holdings LLC, presented a check and will make additional contributions of funds for use of the Lynn Technical and Vocational High School Enrichment Program’s night school at various intervals during development and construction of the 71-unit market-rate and affordable rental apartment complex, to be built at 700 Washington St.

The Gateway Residences on Washington, owned by Washington Gateway LLC and being developed by Washington Gateway Development LLC, is a 71-unit rental apartment residential complex that will feature 53 affordable units plus about 2,000 s/f of commercial space.

The building will be five floors in height and will have 18 one-bedroom units, with 46 of two bedrooms, and seven of three bedrooms. Construction is expected to begin in June, with completion estimated to be early fall 2017. The project is expected to cost $28 million.

Located across from North Shore Community College, Gateway Residences on Washington was awarded funding through a competitive state process to make the project possible. Washington Gateway LLC is owned by partners Neighborhood Development Associates and Hub Holdings LLC.

The project is a transit-oriented development that was created in response to the Washington District Master Plan, initiated by Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development, funded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, and executed by Sasaki Associates. Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development will manage the development upon completion.

Assisting the owners and development managers have been City of Lynn officials, the North Shore Building Trades Council, and Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development.

Construction and permanent financing will be provided by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.

“This $10,000 is the beginning of a night school for the people of Lynn who really need the tools,” said Maria Carrasco, Lynn School Committee member and president of the New Lynn Coalition, who called Thomas Bauer of Hub Holdings, “a hero for us.”

Bauer accepted a small gift of thanks at the morning event at the Lynn Technical High School Annex, and said, “I am excited about your vision of education.” Bauer thanked partners in the neighborhood and union, local, and state officials who are making the housing project possible.

Lynn Mayor Judith Kennedy, who attended along with about two dozen union and other public officials, said, “This is the first new-construction project of its kind in my memory. It bodes well for the City of Lynn, and hopefully we can replicate it.”

Jeff Crosby, President of the North Shore Labor Council, who organized today’s event, said the school will start with 14 classes and assess which ones are most in demand, with a goal of expanding. “I got ideas for two more classes here today,” he said, noting the success of one already under way – in cake decorating.

Gateway Residences on Washington, 700 Washington Street - Lynn, MA

“We’re looking at this project hopefully as a model by which we can create pathways for the people of Lynn,” said Tim Fandel, Business Agent for Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 12. “As we say, ‘We don’t create jobs for people, we create careers’.”

Pete Capano, Lynn City Councilor for Ward 6, also a union official, said, “You hear about public private partnerships, but where are they? Right here in Lynn.”

“We need job training. Lynn could really benefit from skilled labor right now,” Capano said. “Lynn has potential. This is really a vision of what we talked about for years. A developer who’s doing a significant project has stepped up.

Others attending the event included Sen. Thomas M. McGee, representing the 3d Essex District; Brendan Crighton, representing 11th Essex County Legislative District including Lynn; Dan Cahill, President of the Lynn City Council; Dr. Cathy Latham, Superintendent of Lynn Public Schools; Robert Buontempo, Principal and Director of the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute; Mary Sarris, Executive Director of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board; Tony Dunn, AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison for North Shore Labor Council; and Thomas O’Malley, Director of AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, New England Region.

In a statement issued earlier, Bauer said, “In appreciation for the incredible cooperation of City and State officials and neighborhood residents in making the Washington Street Gateway Project possible, and the public support thereof by the City of Lynn and the community of Lynn, as well as the sustained and continuing support of the New Lynn Coalition and The North Shore Labor Council for this project, we are happy to contribute to the worthy efforts of LECP and LECP Night School.

“We trust this educational program will prepare some Lynn residents for jobs in the building trades as Lynn prepares for a building boom. This is in recognition of the importance of worker training for the future financial well-being of the residents of the City of Lynn. This program offers Lynn residents a ladder of opportunity to decent-paying middle-class jobs with benefits.”

Crosby said, “The New Lynn Coalition wants to complement the City’s Master Plan by helpoing to address the jobs crisis in Lynn as well as housing, and Mr. Bauer’s generosity and the Lynn Tech night school are a way to begin to do this.”

By the time construction is completed on the residential complex and a certificate of occupancy is issued, and upon the first anniversary of occupancy, Hub Holdings will have made a total contribution of $100,000 to the school.

The future funds will be deposited as specific milestones are reached in a bank account at the Eastern Bank of the North Shore Workers Community Fund, Inc., a nonprofit tax exempt entity, and made available to the Night School on an as needed basis as requested by that program.

These funds are exclusively for use of the Night School, and the Fund has agreed to administer them without charge.

The Gateway Residences on Washington, owned by Washington Gateway LLC and being developed by Washington Gateway Development LLC, is a 71-unit rental apartment residential complex that will feature 53 affordable units plus about 2,000 square feet of commercial space.

The building will be five floors in height and will have 18 one-bedroom units, with 46 of two bedrooms, and seven of three bedrooms. Construction is expected to begin in June, with completion estimated to be early fall 2017. The project is expected to cost $28 million.

Located across from North Shore Community College, Gateway Residences on Washington was awarded funding through a competitive state process to make the project possible. Washington Gateway LLC is owned by partners Neighborhood Development Associates and Hub Holdings LLC.

The project is a transit-oriented development that was created in response to the Washington District Master Plan, initiated by Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development, funded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development, and executed by Sasaki Associates. Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development will manage the development upon completion.

Assisting the owners and development managers have been City of Lynn officials, the North Shore Building Trades Council, and Lynn Housing and Neighborhood Development.

Construction and permanent financing will be provided by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.

Hub Holdings LLC of Boston, founded in 2012, seeks to create significant long-term value by recognizing opportunity in the responsible use of land. Its motto is: “Simplify the complex.  Collaborate.  Exceed user expectations.” Hub Holdings’ core market is Eastern Massachusetts. The company develops product in response to demand and believes that economic growth in the Boston metropolitan area reflects the stability of established companies and the emergence of many new firms in financial services, health care, knowledge creation, and technology.