Developers eye Shrewsbury land for 93-unit housing project off Route 20
SHREWSBURY ― A developer is looking to build 111,000 square feet of mixed-income housing on land off Route 20 and Stoney Hill Road.
Boston-based WinnCompanies wants to build 93 units across two buildings – one with 63 units and the other with 30 – at the 9-acre property at 526 Hartford Turnpike.
The project is coined The Pointe at Hill Farm, and a representative of the developers said that it's expected to cost $33 million, with the majority of funding coming from federal and state low-income housing tax credits provided by the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
Funding will also come from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Details about the financial responsibility of each party has not yet been set, according to the developers’ representative, as the property is still under the ownership of local developers of the St. Pierre family, who have owned the land since 1984.
A deal is expected to be finalized in May, when construction would start and last 18 months, according to the developers’ representative.
Shrewsbury’s assistant town manager Kristen Las said the Zoning Board of Appeals has approved the project for a comprehensive permit, which allows developers of affordable housing to override certain aspects of municipal zoning bylaws and other requirements.
The developers have yet to appear in front of the board for a building permit, which would allow them to begin construction, according to Las.
Of the 63 units in one building, 16 would be market-rate units, five workforce housing units for people making up to 120% of area median income, 10 would be workforce housing units for those at or below 110% of AMI, 23 would be affordable units for those at 60% of AMI, and nine would be low-income units for those at 30% of AMI.
Of the 30-unit building, six would be workforce housing units, 20 would be affordable units and four would be low-income units.
The developers also want to create 161 parking spaces.
Affordable housing plans for the site have been in the works since 2016, when the St. Pierre family wanted to build a total of 248 units on the property and another 10 acres of land nearby at 440 Hartford Turnpike.
The Zoning Board approved the project in 2016 but the family backed out, later looking to sell the land.
GFI Partners, a Boston-based commercial developer, purchased the property at 440 Hartford Turnpike for $2 million in February 2021.
Las said the company has plans to build a 134,000-square-foot warehouse for distribution purposes.
She added that the developers still don’t have a tenant for the distribution center.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Boston developers propose housing development in Shrewsbury
