LYNN — The city is expected to add 264 affordable senior residences in the coming years.
Developer 2Life Communities is set to build apartments at two sites, 500 Lynnfield St. and 19 Porter St.
Zoe Weinrobe, director of real estate development at 2Life Communities, said both projects will not only create an exciting opportunity for new senior housing, but also fill the affordable-housing needs of an aging population.
“What we’ve heard is a desperate need for deeply-affordable senior-supportive housing,” Weinrobe. “There is not a lot of deeply-affordable senior-supportive housing in Lynn.”
According to 2Life Communities, the 500 Lynnfield St. property, which will be called Solimine House, is located where Union Hospital stood for 50 years. It is estimated to welcome its first occupants in summer 2026.
Solimine House includes three interconnected multistory houses, which will feature common spaces and 150 new apartments for adults ages 62 and older. The property will also feature public outdoor green space and walking paths.
The Solimine House site would abut the Mass General Brigham Health Care Center and a new Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly Center.
2Life Communities estimates construction of Solimine House, which Weinrobe said will be a roughly $85 million project, to begin in 2024.
The project at 19 Porter St., which is the site of the former Thurgood Marshall Middle School, is currently still in a community-engagement and design phase.
Construction is expected to begin in 2026 at an estimated cost of $70 million, according to Weinrobe, with the expectation of welcoming occupants the next year.
The Porter Street project will include 114 affordable apartments for seniors in a proposed three-story building.
The ground-floor Village Center would include flexible spaces for fitness and wellness activities, arts and culture programs, space for communal meals and other community events, and green space.
2Life will be holding an in-person neighborhood meeting about the 19 Porter St. project on Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. at the new Thurgood Marshall Middle School at 100 Brookline St.
Another virtual meeting will be held on Sept. 21 at 6 p.m.
“We plan to share more about 2Life Communities, as well as the project’s estimated schedule, site maintenance, security plan, and preliminary design concept,” an announcement about the meeting on 2Life Communities’ website read.
Funding for the projects is still in the process of being secured and will be from municipal, state, and federal sources, according to Weinrobe.
According to 2Life Communities, the units will be affordable to households with incomes up to 60% of the area median income, which the company said was $56,400 for a one-person household and $64,440 for a two-person household.
According to Weinrobe, rents for one-bedrooms will likely not exceed $1,600 a month, though she said 2Life Community would attempt to lower rents with project-based vouchers.
“We try to get as much other capital sources as we can to be able to afford to give people much lower rents,” Weinrobe said.
