Four-unit housing developments breaks ground Thursday

Google This property at 21 Jaques Ave. is getting a facelift thanks to Worcester Common Ground.

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By Zachary Comeau

Community development group Worcester Common Ground will break ground on a new affordable housing complex in a vacant former four-unit condominium building on Jaques Avenue.

The property will be rehabilitated for use as four affordable rental apartments, said Worcester Common Ground in a press release Monday. The property has sat vacant since the 2008 foreclosure crisis.

The community development group representing the Piedmont and Elm Park area are hosting a groundbreaking ceremony at the site at 2 p.m. Thursday. Three units will be affordable to extremely low-income households with incomes up to 30 percent of the area median income. Another unit will be affordable for a family with an income up to 50 percent on the area median income.

Two of the units will provide housing for Massachusetts Department of Mental Health clients, the organization announced.

Worcester Common Ground was awarded $826,000 in March for the project from the Housing Trust Fund, Home Innovation Fund, Facilities Consolidation Fund and the City of Worcester.

The groundbreaking comes after the completion of the city’s first bioshelter, down the street at 7 Jaques Ave. The green space was created through a partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute students. Construction began in the summer.