Housing Headlines

FITCHBURG --- The city's redevelopment authority has extended the deadline for proposals to develop a downtown site into retail and residential, even as nearby property owners are questioning the plan, noting that a pharmacy company is also interested in the site.

BOSTON --- The city has selected a developer to fix four foreclosed homes in a hard-hit Dorchester neighborhood and is looking to do more en masse foreclosure rehab work in other Boston neighborhoods.

WORCESTER --- Reporter Matthew Brown does the math on how the slumping real estate market has impacted the value and investment potential of hundreds of three-decker homers in Worcester.

WAREHAM --- The town's zoning board is considering the approval of a 40B proposal by local development company Gatehouse Group, which would create 144 one- to three-bedroom rental units on 15 acres overlooking Union Pond at 2880 Cranberry Highway.

SPRINGFIELD --- Lenders foreclosed on 1,027 properties in Hampden County during the last fiscal year, almost double the number from the previous year, the county's registrar of deeds reported at July 23 news conference. Foreclosures in Hampden County rose by 94 percent from the 529 recorded in the previous fiscal year. Of the 1,027 foreclosures completed in Hampden County, 691 of them were in Springfield. Chicopee had 65 foreclosures, up 117 percent from last year. Holyoke had 48, up 50 percent from 2007.

PITTSFIELD --- A neighborhood community group is holding a public meeting to voice concerns about the city's consideration of adopting a smart growth overlay district and a tax-break incentives that would promote downtown development. The city already has granted a special permit to a developer who proposes to build 43 new affordable housing units downtown.