FALL RIVER — A prominent city developer has won $2.5 million in state tax credits to help build more housing in downtown Fall River.
The Cordeiro Group, led by Anthony Cordeiro, was one of six developers statewide to receive funding from the Housing Development Incentive Program. The program is a state initiative to spur the building of market-rate housing in Gateway Cities.
The funding for Cordeiro Group will go toward building Bedford Lofts, a 52-unit five-story building on Bedford Streetthat will also contain commercial space and an adult day care center.
“HDIP is the medium that makes market-rate housing happen in Gateway Cities like Fall River,” said Melanie C. Cordeiro, vice president and chief marketing officer for the Cordeiro Group.
What is HDIP?
HDIP was first signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey in October 2023, and is administered by the Housing and Livable Communities. It provides either local or state tax credits, and is meant to subsidize the construction of market-rate housing as a way of “supporting economic development and promoting neighborhood stabilization” in Gateway Cities, according to EOHLC.
The office said these tax credits have been used to build 1,544 new housing units in 2024.
This funding round, the state is helping subsidize the construction of 829 new market-rate apartments with $15 million.
Cordeiro said Healey’s administration and EOHLC “understand that developers like us as well as others in Gateway Cities need HDIP to make these projects possible. Without it, projects like ours are not economically feasible.”
“We are very appreciative of being the recipient of this $2.5 million award,” she said.
What is the Cordeiro Group’s Bedford Lofts project?
The Bedford Lofts project is replacing a former used car dealership that was once the home of Cantin’s Clunkers on Bedford Street, and in more recent times a parking lot, and an auto body shop Jeronimo’s Collision Center on Seventh Street.