Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | January 26, 2026 | wbjournal.com BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Managing Editor W hile business and government officials focus their attention on new construction to solve Central Mas- sachusetts' housing crunch, Rick Henk- en has carved out a business preserving and upgrading affordable communities. "Everybody says,'Build more housing, and with enough supply, rents will go down, right?'" Henken said. "You can point to marks like Austin, Texas, with one of the highest rents. It got overbuilt like crazy, and rents fell dramatically. I don't necessarily see that happening here … If you lost 114 affordable units at Devenscrest that were naturally-oc- curring, you would have to find a way to build 114 more someplace out, and that's really hard." As president and CEO of Brain- tree-based Schochet Cos., Henken has expanded his real estate investment firm's presence in Central Massachu- setts with two major investments: the $100-million purchase in September of Plumley Village, a 430-unit subsidized housing community in Worcester; and the $32-million purchase in December of the 114-townhouse Devenscrest Vil- lage in Ayer, according to the Worcester and Middlesex South registry of deeds. Investor interest in affordable housing is rising, including from pension funds, family offices, and other long-term in- vestors, according to a November report from the Multifamily Impact Council. "ey are not doing it because some- one convinced them it was the right thing to do," the report reads. "ey're doing it because they recognize that investments in properties that conserve energy, waste less water, and have more renters who can afford to pay rent on time perform better." Both Schochet purchases were made possible by larger national firms and high-net-worth individuals. "Over the last decade or so, so- phisticated investors of all kinds have discovered affordable housing," Henken said. "ere's become a whole class of investors who provide real cash equity, looking for real cash returns." Investing $140M into Plumley Village Plumley Village traces its roots back to the construction of I-290, which meant the end of a number of Worces- ter neighborhoods. One of these was the Laurel Clayton neighborhood, a predominately African American area planners charted the new highway through, destroying the mixed-use na- ture of the neighborhood, according to Mapping Inequality, a project launched by the University of Richmond in 2016. e Worcester Redevelopment Authority would eventually hand the site to the State Mutual Insurance Co. in the 1970s for development into the Plumley Village was first built in the 1970s and is one of the largest affordable housing sites in Central Massachusetts. PHOTO | EDD COTE Affordable opportunities (From left) Schochet Maintenance Supervisor Louis Ouellette, President and CEO Rick Henken, and Portfolio Manager Maria Cotto are revitalizing Plumley Village in Worcester. PHOTO | COURTESY 3 EAGLES AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY Schochet Cos. is investing $200M+ in affordable housing, as investor interest rises

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