Housing Headlines

MARLBOROUGH --- An updated housing study initiated after City Council initiated a six-month building ban found that new housing has not meant more students. According to RKG Associates, 1,500 apartments and 700 owner units have been built in the city since 2002 but enrollment in that time has declined.

BEVERLY --- With Governor Charlie Baker in attendance, Barnat Development broke ground on June 14 on a new six-story, 67-unit apartment complex right in front of the Beverly Depot Commuter Rail Station. Sixteen of the units will be affordable to middle income households, a Baker Administration initiative that is being funded through MassHousing's $100 million Workforce Housing Initiative. Workforce housing is for households making between 61 and 120 percent of area median income.

LUDLOW --- Residents say they have received robocalls from selectmen urging them to attend a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing at the high school regarding a non-profit's application for a Ch. 40B land-use permit so it can build 43 affordable apartments across from an elementary school. The Ludlow Board of Selectmen and other town officials have been steadfast in their disapproval of this project at this site and have hired land-use attorney Daniel Hill of Cambridge to provide legal advice on the issue.

NEWTON --- The developer of the controversial 68-unit Austin Street mixed-income project near the Mass. Pike and the MBTA commuter rail has told the city his company will break ground in the spring of 2018 now that he's reached a settlement with plaintiffs whose legal challenges have delayed the project since it was approved in 2015.

WORCESTER --- Allen Fletcher, a local businessman who is past president of the Canal District Alliance, is eyeing a key vacant parcel in the Kelley Square Canal District for the development of a four-story building that would include 48 market-rate apartments, a public market and a restaurant. The site has been vacant since 2011 when the former General Automotive Supply building was demolished.

After resident resistance thwarted Beverly-based Harborlight Community Partners attempts to develop affordable housing on behalf of selectmen and the Hamilton Affordable Housing Trust, Harborlight Executive Director Andrew DeFranza is still hopeful of developing some housing on two of the sites. Meanwhile in Wenham, Harborlight's attempts to build 60 senior apartments is still hung up in court as 12 abutters appealed the Wenham Zoning Board of Appeal's approval in 2015.