Housing Headlines

FRAMINGHAM --- The owner of the neighboring Carlyle House nursing home on Winter St. wants to convert a historic home into 15 apartments, an idea J. Dennis Morgan said he can now put forth due to a new three-year old city bylaw that lowered the minimum square footage of for new apartments in historic properties from 900 to 600 square feet.

BOSTON --- Leggat McCall will join forces with Corcoran Jennison Associates to redevelop the Bunker Hill public housing project, according to an announcement made recently by the Boston Housing Authority and the Charlestown Resident Alliance. The two private development companies will team up to replace the existing 1,100 public housing units while adding 1,700 market-rate units.

CARLISLE --- Citing a lack of support by the selectmen and the decision to eliminate the town's housing coordinator position, all four members of the Carlisle Housing Authority board have resigned and issued a joint letter of resignation that was sent to local officials, the state and several media outlets.

MARLBOROUGH --- The senior public housing on Pleasant Street will get a much needed-facelift as the state has awarded the housing authority $3.3 million toward the rehabilitation of the 50-year-old facility. The City of Marlborough is also chipping in with $720,850 in solar net metering credits over 10 years, $100,000 from the neighborhood stabilization program, $100,000 in Community Development reserves and $400,000 approved by the City Council to fund the remainder of the project.

WESTMINSTER --- The town is thrilled with its request for proposals to develop senior housing behind the senior center as four experienced developers have stepped forward with bids. Responding to the RFP are NewVue Communities of Fitchburg, Commonwealth Community Developers of Cambridge, SCG Development of Peabody, and Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, Inc. of East Boston. The land behind the senior center is estimated to be suitable for up to 50 apartments and the town is indicating at least 25 percent of the homes should be affordable below 80 percent of area median income.

WESTPORT --- After many years of trying to get it done, it was a proud day for the Westport Affordable Housing Trust Fund and other local leaders as they came together for a tour of Noquochoke Village, a 50-unit affordable housing development built on town land by the Community Builders, a national affordable housing developer based in Boston. (Note: MHP supported this town-initiated development early and late with pre-development technical assistance and a $1.4 million long-term loan commitment).