$500K Awarded To Fund Serenity Apartments Expansion

BREWSTER – Earlier this month, the state announced the Community One Stop for Growth awards, which funds projects across the commonwealth to support housing and economic development. Brewster received a $500,000 award for the upcoming year to benefit Serenity Apartments’ upcoming expansion.

The Serenity Apartments at Brewster was established in 2020 after Elevation Financial Group purchased the former skilled nursing facility off Harwich Road. The former occupant ceased operations in 2019 and the new owners renovated the building to create rental units. 

The community is now an affordable 55-and-over independent senior living facility. Currently, there are 132 rental units with 27 offered at affordable rates to those up to 80 percent of the area median income. 

After evaluating the current usage of general spaces like a large commercial kitchen, the owners decided to transition unused spaces to additional apartments.

The $500,000 grant will help fund an additional 23 new units, 12 of which will be affordable. Elevation Financial has already secured $700,000 in funding from the Brewster Affordable Housing Trust. This is the first time the town is contributing to the redevelopment of the property. 

According to a news release from the town, “The combination of $1.2 million in state and local financial support allows Serenity to increase the percentage of affordable units at this location from 20 to 25. Accordingly, after these new units are constructed, it is anticipated that all of the housing units at Serenity will count toward the town’s Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI), which would increase to 9.7 percent.”

The units are set to be completed by the end of next year, after which a lottery will be held for the affordable units in line with state regulations. 

“We are grateful to the town of Brewster, the Brewster Affordable Housing Trust, and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities for their commitment to expanding affordable housing options for seniors and families, and we are immensely proud to work with them to achieve that shared goal,” said Ben Friendman, the vice president of public affairs and business development at Elevation Financial. 

This is not the first time Brewster has been awarded funding from the program. In 2024, the town received $65,000 for a mixed-use and multi-unit housing zoning study. In 2023, the town was awarded $75,000 for the Sea Camps comprehensive planning effort.

In total, since its launch in 2021, the grants have funded $744 million in projects across the state.