Housing Headlines

FRAMINGHAM --- Neighbors near Millwood Farms Golf Course are taking the Planning Board to court over its approval of Capital Group Properties' plan to redevelop the Millwood Farms Golf Course into 129 units, claiming the board erred in its calculation of how many units can be developed on the 67-acre property, 30 of which the developers have agreed to keep as open space.

CONCORD --- To raise the $4 million it estimates it needs to support future affordable housing that will keep the town's affordable supply above 10 percent, the town's housing funding committee has been seeking feedback on five different ways in which revenues can be raised, including a building permit fee charge and a town budget line item.

MEDWAY --- If two housing proposals get the necessary permits and funding, it could raise Medway's supply of affordable housing from five to seven percent, estimates Doug Haven, the town's housing coordinator. One of those proposals - MetroWest Collaborative's Glen Brook Way - awaits word on state funding for 48 senior units, but it has already received a commitment for of $1 million in local funds from Medway.

BOSTON --- Vacant for 40 years but once a site for tenement housing, a bakery, a tin shop and the Crossroads Tavern, the empty lot at 61 Heath St. is now being redeveloped into 47 mixed-income apartments by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Back of the Hill CDC. The bulk of the financing is being provided through a $9.4 million tax-exempt bond issued by MassDevelopment and purchased by Eastern Bank, according to a recent MassDevelopment press release.

HANOVER --- With the construction of a new school and rehab of another school expected to make the Sylvester School obsolete by 2019, the Town of Hanover in April issued a Request for Proposal back in April in hopes of seeing the school redeveloped into housing. Three months later, the redevelopment committee announced that Traggorth Companies LLC was the only respondent, proposing to redevelop the school into 29 one- and two-bedroom mixed-income apartments.

GLOUCESTER --- After 11 meetings and over a year of discussions, the planning board has OK'd the $70 million mixed-use redevelopment of the Fuller School, a key step in a development team's bid to redevelop the property with 200 mixed-income apartments, 26,000 square feet of retail and a new Cape Ann YMCA. The developers - Cape Ann YMCA, Windover Development, Sam Park & Company and the Dolben Company - now must get city council's OK for a special permit to develop the site.