GromaCorp, Inc (“Groma”), an innovative real estate and technology startup and real estate sponsor, has partnered with Needham Bank, a leading local financial institution, to scale up their efforts to increase quality housing supply in the inventory-constrained Boston market.
Needham Bank and Groma have partnered on a $41.5 million three-part debt facility. The bulk of the partnership is focused on enabling Groma to scale up its acquisition/rehabilitation of small-unit count multi-family homes in Boston. Small-unit count multi-family homes make up almost half of the housing stock in the Greater Boston area but are often not renovated to modern-living and environmentally efficient standards. Groma is focused on retaining and improving this key inventory of convenient, affordable housing in Boston.
Additional elements of the facility are focused on financing Groma’s core operating activities, as well as a loan facility to underwrite improvements to Groma’s Boston headquarters at 31 New Chardon Street.
Groma’s founding team includes industry experts spanning the real estate and technology industries. Just two years old, Groma already has grown its team to more than 30 people and manages north of $100 million of assets on behalf of its investors.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Needham Bank in this important financing facility to help scale up Groma’s efforts in the Greater Boston area,” said Seth Priebatsch, President of GromaCorp. “The team at Needham Bank has been fantastic to work with, flexible to our custom needs and supportive of our long-term vision to increase both the quantity and quality of housing supply in the Greater Boston area, as well as ownership opportunities for more residents of the City.”
Needham Bank is providing financing to Groma through the bank’s Structured Finance team. “We believe Groma has the ability to do great work in the region by continuing to improve both the quality and supply of much-needed housing. Needham Bank has a strong desire to support initiatives that have significant potential to achieve social good, and we think Seth and Groma can do just that,” commented Joseph P. Campanelli, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Needham Bank.
Via this release, Groma is also announcing its first two acquisitions using the Needham facility – an 8-unit property at 1536-1542 Tremont Street, which houses 6 residential units and 2 commercial units (one of which is currently being used by the Boston Debate League, a local non-profit focused on bringing healthy and competitive debate training into Boston’s school system), and a 3-unit property at 19 Perrin Street. Both properties are currently fully leased and Groma is using the facility to make ongoing improvements to each building’s amenities and environmental efficiency over the coming years while keeping the tenants in place.
For questions, please contact: KMarryat@NeedhamBank.com
About Groma:
Groma is a vertically integrated real estate investment, development and management company combined with a tech startup building tools to provide better outcomes for our investors, tenants and the communities we serve. Groma was founded in early 2020 and is headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, please visit https://www.groma.com/.