Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- Amid concerns about nearby Allandale Woods and that all zoning rules appear made to be broken, a key Boston board has OK'd WonderGroup's plans to build 18 "net zero" energy consumption luxury town houses on a two-acre site near Faulkner Hospital that was zoned for single-family use.

SPRINGFIELD — The owners of residential housing located in a building shared with the YMCA of Greater Springfield on Chestnut Street have applied for state funds for a $12 million project to renovate and expand the size of 104 single-room-occupancy apartments on the upper floors.

WORCESTER - The Planning Board has given developer Ding On "Tony" Kwan a second chance to move forward with plans to build a 600-unit apartment building off Franklin Street, near Union Station. The project site encompasses roughly 2.6 acres of underused property within walking distance of Union Station and next to the CSX freight terminal on Franklin Street and the Franklin Street fire station.

BOSTON --- Columnist Adrian Walker hails the $30M federal grant to support the revitalization of one of Boston's oldest public housing developments, but fears it may be a long time before we see any more support to fix projects like this.

BOSTON --- Having witnessed the success of the nearby New Balance/Boston Landing project, Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. is drawing up plans for a massive mixed-use development at its 11-acre property next to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Allston, including approximately 1,000 residential units.

WARE --- Selectmen voted recently to designate the downtown business district and surrounding residential streets a slum and blight area as a means to procure government grants. According to a recent survey by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, one-third of the 48 commercial structures appear blighted, more than three-fourths of the 17 industrial structures are in fair or poor condition and 146 of the 354 homes — 41 percent — appear either poorly maintained or are a total wreck.