Housing Headlines

SALEM --- The battle over whether to save St. Jospeph's Church or knock it down to build affordable housing has intensified, with a local builder asking historic preservationists to stop distorting a report his company did to estimate the costs of renovating the church into housing as an alternative to razing it.

BEVERLY --- The Beverly Housing Authority plans to build two, two-family homes near the Montserrat commuter rail station for low-income families. The houses will be built on Spring Street on land the housing authority bought from the MBTA in 2002. Construction is expected to start in late summer or early fall, with the homes opening sometime in 2013.

FALL RIVER - People have started moving into the new Eagle Community Care Estates, a rehabilitated 17-unit complex of permanent affordable housing created specifically for veterans, homeless families and people with low income. The Eagle Street property had been in foreclosure. Community Care Services refurbished the complex, providing residences for people in need while preventing further blight in the neighborhood.

SOUTHBOROUGH - The developer of a proposed 140-apartment affordable housing complex on Rte. 9 has offered to pay the town $300,000 to reduce the project's impact - $120,000 less than the Zoning Board of Appeals wanted. Developer Robert Moss wants to build the complex on 17 acres at the intersection of Rte. 9 and Crystal Pond Road. ZBA chairman Matthew Hurley said the board initially asked Moss for $420,000 - $3,000 per condo - after some informal research of similar projects in surrounding towns. In a letter dated April 18, which Hurley said the ZBA hasn't discussed, Moss countered with an offer for $300,000 in three $100,000 installments spread over the construction of the buildings.

BILLERICA --- A group of local and state leaders that included Cardinal Sean O'Malley and the state's Undersecretary for Housing Aaron Gornstein were on hand recently to celebrate the completion of Rose Hill Manor, a 41-unit affordable rental apartment building developed by the Planning Office of Urban Affairs. The 40B development was built on a 3.2 acre site behind St. Theresa of Lisieux Parish.

SALEM --- The city's historic preservation group is continuing the six-year battle to stop the Planning Office of Urban Affairs (POUA) from demolishing St. Joseph's Church to make way for 51 affordable apartments. Historic Salem Inc. is threatening legal action and urging the developer to reconsider its request to remodel the church into an apartment building, something the devloper has said is uneconomic.