Housing Headlines

DRACUT --- Town officials recently made an offer to buy a former plot of farmland on which to build affordable housing for seniors. The sellers have not yet agreed to the deal but the John Hassan, chairman of the Community Preservation Committee, said "[our offer] is in their ballpark." The town would build 46 one-bedroom affordable cottages for seniors. Officials estimate that the project would take three years to complete depending on whether the town can obtain state funding.

TOWNSEND --- RCAP Solutions recently celebrated the groundbreaking of 36 units of affordable senior housing adjacent to a senior housing complex the developer built 21 years ago. The new Townsend Woods complex received $5.5 million in funding from the federal government and $1 million from state funding sources. Construction is expected to be completed in the spring of 2011.

BELMONT --- The O'Neill Properties Group recently won approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to build 299 mixed-income residential units on land surrounded by the 120-acre Alewife Brook Reservation. Environmental activists from Belmont and neighboring Cambridge have resisted the project because the land it would be built on houses an unusual silver maple forest and is surrounded by wetlands. There is no word on when construction would begin.

NEWTON --- Aldermen are reviewing a plan to build a supermarket, 92 apartments and a 300-car parking garage at the Newton Centre fire station site. Under the current proposal, which is smaller than the 114-unit plan floated last year, the developer would have to build the city new fire buildings in exchange for the rights to the land. The plan includes 74 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom units, for a total of 92.

FALL RIVER --- The Fall River YMCA says it cannot go forward with its $11 million plan to renovate its downtown facility after the city pulled back on a previous commimtent to provide $1.5 million in federal HOME funds to help support the housing portion of the project, which called for the renovation of the third and fourth floors into 42 units of affordable rental housing.

EAST BOSTON --- The Boston Redevelopment Authority recently approved a mixed-used residential development on the waterfront that will include residential units, a restaurant, a recreational marina and water taxi landing. An existing nine-story building will be renovated to include 165 residential units and a proposed six-story building will contain 59 residential units or 106 hotel/extended stay rooms. Construction is expected to begin sometime in 2012.