Housing Headlines

GLOUCESTER --- Harborlight Community Partners' plan to turn the YMCA building on Middle St. into 53 affordable apartments for low- to moderate-income households depends on the city and the developers of the $70 million Fuller School site reaching an agreement on a variety of issues. The Fuller School plan includes 200 units of market-rate housing and a new YMCA, which would free up the Middle St. site to be used to satisfy affordable housing obligations of the Fuller St. plan. But several issues need to be ironed out, including a consultant's finding that the Fuller plan does not fulfill the city's requirements for allowing affordable housing to be built off site.

BOSTON --- Concerns about affordability were raised during a recent public meeting about Millennium Partners' plan to develop city-owned parcel P-12C into 171 units - 45 rental units for households between 30 to 60 percent of area median income and 126 homeownership mixed-income homeownership units.The proposal - for 288 Tremont St. - will also include establishing a permanent home for the Chinatown branch of the Boston Public Library. Several attendees expressed concern that the housing would not truly be affordable, with only nine units being affordable to 30 percent AMI households.

WEYMOUTH --- The long-awaited redevelopment of a vacant lot at Weymouth Landing has hit another snag as developer Nick Delegas will have to reconfigure his design after learning that building the four-story building over an existing culvert will be too expensive. Delegas said he will reconfigure the design so it won't interfere with the culvert, a change that will cut his four-story mixed-use project from 87 to 81 units.

WORCESTER --- During a Facebook Live q&a organized by the Worcester Telegram Police Chief Steven Sargent and City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. discussed recent reports of disturbances created by homeless people at the library and other public buildings, and the possibility of creating a resource center for homeless to go when other facilities aren't open.

BOSTON --- Gov. Charlie Baker met with over two dozen business executives and employer groups for about half an hour at the State House on Monday, after which they joined him for a press conference to show their support for his legislation aimed at creating 135,000 new housing units by 2025. Baker's bill would allow cities and towns to adopt certain zoning changes by a simple majority vote rather than the existing requirement of a two-thirds super majority. Among the companies and business leaders in attendance were John Hancock (Jim Gallagher), Putnam Investments (CEO Robert Reynolds), Boston Medical Center (CEO Kate Walsh) and Rockland Trust (CEO Chris Oddleifson).

FALMOUTH --- With an appraisal in hand, town officials are ready to move forward with a plan to purchase a controversial Main Street property from a developer who has proposed to build a hotel and then a 104-unit apartment building. The latter proposal was approved by the zoning board of appeals with conditions but the decision is being appealed by the developer. Meanwhile, the town OK'd $100,000 to prepare to purchase the property, which has been assessed at $2.5 million. The town says if it acquires the property, it will build a smaller affordable housing project more suitable for the site.