Housing Headlines

BILLERICA --- Alliance Residential Company's unveiling of plans to build 200 units on the Middlesex Turnpike with a 'friendly 40B' was greeted with initial enthusiasm by town officials, who said the project would be "a shot in the arm", "attractive", "beneficial", and a significant improvement for a site that according to one town official "has been vacant since Donald Trump married his first wife."

ARLINGTON --- Despite concerns from residents that the buildings will cast shadows on several homes, the Arlington Redevelopment Board has granted a special permit to the Housing Corporation of Arlington to build 34 affordable apartments at Downing Square in Arlington Heights.

WILLIAMSTOWN --- Despite the strong objections of one resident who understood the need for housing but was unhappy that the town did not meet with neighborhood to hear concerns, the Williamstown Planning Board voted 5-0 to OK a Ch. 40B permit for the redevelopment of the abandoned Photech Mill on Cole Ave. into 46 units of affordable rental housing.

CONCORD --- To compensate in part for starter homes being knocked down to make way for larger homes, the Concord Housing Foundation has proposed that a $35 fee be charged for each square foot of housing over 4,000 square feet. The fund would be used to buy homes that would be sold to affordable buyers and the fee would apply to new homes and existing homes with new additions that put the total square footage over 4,000 square feet. According to the foundation, 80 percent of the homes built since 2000 are over 4,000 square feet.

LYNN --- Quincy-based MG2 Group has reached an agreement with the City of Lynn that will provide developers with tax relief in exchange for the developers agreeing to make all 49 units in their redevelopment of the former Security Trust 'flatiron' building downtown market rate.

BOSTON --- In seeking permission to build 129 "workforce" units in Brighton, Cambridge-based Eden Properties is vowing not to market its housing to college undergraduates or lease more than an third of the units to them at any one time.