Housing Headlines

LAWRENCE --- One of the reasons why the foreclosure crisis is so hard to solve is that it takes months for a buyer to work through the tangled web of ownership that ensnares many troubled properties. Lawrence Eagle Tribune Business Editor Bill Kirk details this in examining why it took Lawrence Community Works six months to purchase a multi-family property that had been foreclosed.

SCITUATE --- Stockbridge II Realty Trust recently requested a change in their 40B permit to build 48 rental units in place of the plan's proposed condominiums. The trust also requested board approval to reallocate four of the project's 18 affordable units from single-family homes to multi-family units. As an explanation for the request, a trust spokesman said, "Unfortunately, condominium projects that are based on the 'for sale' model are now considered high risk by many lenders...rental stream [projects] are seen as a safer paradigm." Neighbors are concerned that a community of rental units will decrease their housing values. The ZBA will hold a hearing on December 1 at 7 p.m. in the town's public library to discuss the proposed changes.

DORCHESTER --- Synergy developers have unveiled their vision for creating a new "main street" in the Columbia Point section of Boston, between the Boston Globe's newspaper plant and the JFK transit stop. The development will include at least four new side streets, 180,000 square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of office space, and 1,725 parking spaces. There will also be 700 units of housing, with 25 percent of those units being made affordable. The only concern that city officials and community members shared with Synergy is the possible height of the buildings making up the development.

FALL RIVER --- The City Council has adopted a resolution to reduce the proposed number of rebuilt, on-site units at Watuppa Heights, from an original "minimum 60 units" to 26 affordable single-family or rental units. All but two of the units will be made available to households with incomes below 30 percent of the area's median income. An unspecified number of additional units will be built with prices that stress affordability. The resolution also ensured a reduction in the city's financial commitment of grants funds to make off-site housing affordable, in addition to the elimination of their requirement to supply land for additional units.

FRAMINGHAM --- Advocates Inc. will soon begin construction to convert a former nursing home into eight affordable housing apartments with support for clients recovering from mental illnesses. The project has been in the planning stages for 12 years and is being financed with federal and state grant money. Advocates president and CEO William J. Taylor said residents will have an experience "in which they can have both privacy and a sense of community."

FALMOUTH --- At a recent selectmen's meeting, housing developer Bob Murray spoke against the local housing committee's support of a 15-unit project known as Webster Woods. Murray, whose non-profit Falmouth Housing Corporation has created over 130 units of rental housing, noted that the project would create only five or six affordable units and and added that's not worth "disturbing the woods."