Housing Headlines

MEDFIELD --- The Gatehouse Group has agreed to purchase nine acres of land at the intersection of Rt. 27 and West Street and will apply to the town for a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit. The Mansfield based-company, which has built apartment buildings in Walpole, Stoughton and Franklin, hopes to build 96 units of affordable rental housing.

NEWTON --- After years of debate, a $300 million-plus transformation of Newton's Riverside Station is poised for a city review. The latest proposal calls for a 575,000 square foot development (down from 700,000), 290 apartments (up from 245) and one office building instead of two. While the new plan addresses neighborhood concerns, some feel the project is too small and will yield far less in new tax revenue than first anticipated.

AGAWAM --- Soldier On is expected to come before the town's zoning board of appeals later this month to seek approval for a Ch. 40B comprenhensive permit that will allow it to proceed with its $12 million housing development for homeless veterans. The Northampton-based nonprofit plans to revampi the former Western Massachusetts Regional Police Academy into 54 studio apartments. Soldier On President Jack Downing hopes to begin construction in July, providing that the nonprofit can obtain its permit and finalize financing.

LUNENBURG --- Lunenburg Housing Authority has reduced its operating costs over the last decade by regionalizing with the Leominster and Sterling housing authorities, according to Eugene J. Capoccia, executive director of the Leominster Housing Authority.

BOSTON --- A hundred affordable rental apartments in 14 local buildings are undergoing major renovations this year in two separate, multi-million-dollar projects. Urban Edge, a Jackson Square-based community development corporation, is now renovating 82 units in 10 buildings in the Brookside, Hyde Square and Egleston Square areas. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation (JPNDC), another CDC, plans a spring renovation for 18 units in four buildings in central JP and Jackson Square.

SANDWICH --- A proposal to build the largest non-senior citizen affordable housing development on Cape Cod is back on track after a Barnstable Superior Court judge ruled recently in favor of developer Mark Wisentaner's 272-unit project. Wisentaner applied to the town for a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit back in 2004 and the town's zoning board of apeals approved the permit with 35 conditions. The Superior Court's decision upheld a previous ruling by the Massachusetts Housing Appeals Committee that the conditions set by the ZBA would result in a 35 percent loss for the developer.