Suffolk Place seeks $300,000 as construction faces remediation cost overruns

Francie Slater, representing Suffolk Place LLC, asked the committee for a $300,000 CPA grant to cover cost overruns related to site remediation and increased construction costs. Slater said the project broke ground in April 2025 and expects to be complete in June 2025, with 33 units of homeownership housing and roughly 6,500 square feet of ground‑floor commercial space on Market Street.

Slater listed key drivers of the overrun: asbestos and lead discovered during excavation (near $300,000), increased materials and supplies (about $167,000), and unforeseen interest expense on construction financing (over $70,000). She said the state Commonwealth Builder subsidy is providing more than $9 million to the deal and that prior CPA contributions included $400,000 for this project and $763,000 for a related Acre Crossing project.

Slater provided preliminary pricing examples for unit sales across AMI tiers and said the project will coordinate parking with the existing Acre Crossing parking deck (leased arrangements with Jean d'Arc Credit Union are under negotiation). The committee did not take a vote on the request; deliberations are scheduled for Jan. 29.