Housing Headlines

MANSFIELD --- The redevelopment of the former Merckens Chocolate Factory into a mixed-use development is good to go now that Red Leaff Development has secured a $32.5 million construction loan from Citizens Bank. The factor redevelopment will include 130 apartments, with 19 affordable apartments and eight units of workforce housing.

PLYMOUTH --- Gov. Charlie Baker was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony for the 300-unit Harborwalk Apartments and the unveiling of Plymouth Station, the new name for the Cordage Park Commerce Center. Long a symbol of Plymouth's industrial past, the former rope factory site has rallied as a site for businesses, but this week's Harborwalk event - a joint venture between Cathartes and Janco Development - is a major milestone for the property, which was rezoned for housing under the state's Chapter 40R option in 2006. "We’ve done many transit-oriented development initiatives over the past four years, and they all basically have the same set of ingredients,” Baker said. “The most important ingredient of all is you have to have the folks on the private side who want to make the project happen, who are aligned with the folks on the local level who really want to see it through."

QUINCY --- The state Housing Appeals Committee has overturned the city's rejection of a 40-unit Wollaston affordable housing proposal, paving the way for a development known as The Warren to become the first-ever project in the city built with a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit.

BOSTON --- Hub housing chief Sheila Dillon told reporters Boston is looking to build over 200 more small-sized supportive housing units for the long-term homeless, is looking for two sites and hopes to raise $10 million from philanthropy for the effort.

BOSTON --- The Bay State Banner's Yawu Miller takes a look at the City of Boston's building boom and how that's created a debate in the neighborhoods between those who believe greater density and more production will lead to more affordability versus those who say increased housing is doing little to ease pressure on rents. This debate is best seen in Dorchester where Dorchester Growing Together is advocating for greater density while Dorchester Not For Sale is arguing that projects in the pipeline offer little affordability for people who live in the neighborhood.

FALL RIVER --- Two weeks after Rep. Carole Fiola met with elderly residents and three days after another meeting at Doolan Apartments, a third meeting became heated over the Fall River Housing Authority's recent placement of young disabled residents into elderly public housing. Most of the complaints centered around suspected drug use. The practice began after the housing authority missed a deadline to submit an updated housing plan to the federal government.