Housing Headlines

HANOVER --- A community meeting is being planned for April 26 so that the new owners of the Hanover Mall can discuss plans to build 297 apartments as part of a plan to revitalize the property. PECO Real Estate Partners (PREP) bought the property for $39.5 million in 2016 and were said to be looking at a variety of plans to revitalize the site. The owners will also provide residents with an update on the retail redevelopment of the property. The meeting will be held in the former J.C. Penney store, which closed in 2016.

MILFORD --- Owners of the 625,000 square foot Stone Ridge Center Business Park told local officials that turning part of their property into 272 apartments is key to bringing economic vitality to the property. Israel Lopez, managing director for the Gutierrez Company, told the Zoning Board of Appeals, is hoping to build the complex on 16.6 acres or 25 percent of the site. The company is seeking a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit from the town to proceed with the project.

MEDFORD --- Due to an increased demand for housing which has seen the city OK 13 "large-scale" residential or mixed-use developments since 2009, the city is contemplating several zoning changes, including an inclusionary zoning bylaw that wold require developers to include some affordable housing in their projects.

BOURNE --- Out of a dozen funding requests for Community Preservation Act funds, the town's finance committee spent the most time questioning a request by the housing authority for $200,000 to install new roofs and siding on four of public housing apartments at 89 Waterhouse Road. According to a state Dept. of Housing and Community Development notice issued in 2013, CPA funds can be used for work that protects the housing structure, like building envelopes. It cannot be used for things like kitchen upgrades, energy efficient windows and driveways.

MILFORD --- Developer Kevin Lobissier has filed an application to the town for a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit so he can move forward with plans to build 162 mixed-income apartments on part of a 45-acre site on Birch Street. Lobisser plans to build on half of the site, leaving the other part open for other development, a plan that won him support from selectmen.

If waiting lists for affordable housing are any barometer, the need for rental properties in the Leominster area is as acute as ever. The North Central Mass. Housing Authority reports1,300 families on the wait list for 80 units in Leominster and 1,500 families on the list for 200 units in Fitchburg. That's why local officials are looking forward to the completion of two Leominster developments in the pipeline - NewVue Communities remake of the Carter School into 40 apartments and the opening of the 41-unit Ivory Keys Apartments on Adams Street.