Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
A major North Shore office park is adding 60 new condos
With steady demand from 55-plus buyers looking to downsize, nearly half the units in the unfinished building are already claimed.
A new 60-unit condominium building will be opening its doors this summer at the Cumming Center in Beverly, tapping into the strong demand for active-adult housing on the North Shore.
The development, which is reserving 80% of its homes for households with at least one resident aged 55 or older, is meeting a demand from a subgroup actively looking to downsize while staying connected in their community.
“There’s more demand than supply, especially at least in the active adult category,” said Dennis Clarke, Chairman and CEO of Cummings Properties, the developer behind the project.
With the project still underway, the developer said that buyers have already claimed nearly half of the units.
Advertisement:
The new development will consist of five levels of mostly two-bedroom units, ranging in size from 700 square feet to 2,600 square feet. Market home prices will range from $500,000 to $1.5 million. The 125,000-square-foot building will offer nine subsidized residences.
The site sits on land that was a former surface parking lot and is across the street from the Beverly Middle School on Balch Street.
History of the site
Cummings Properties bought the long-defunct Beverly property known as “The Shoe” in April 1996. Once home to the United Shoe Machinery Corporation’s headquarters, the site had been a major economic hub for the region.
Advertisement:
“It was a derelict, 100-year-old heavy industrial site,” Clarke said. “And the only thoughts we had in those early days were modernizing the commercial buildings.”
“It was a huge undertaking,” Clarke continued. “It’s been very successful.”
The firm spent years, and more than $80 million, transforming the property into a mixed-use campus that now includes the new Beverly Police Department, medical and business offices, and amenities ranging from fitness studios to spas.
After adding four parking garages, the developers realized the site still had capacity, but didn’t want to build more commercial space. They turned instead to residential use.
Their first project, Elliott Landing, was constructed in 2016 with 74 condominiums on the opposite side of the Cummings Center. Although the building wasn’t age-restricted, most first-time buyers were over 55.
That response convinced the company to pursue another project aimed at that market, which led to permitting for the Beverly Landing development a few years later.
The new complex reserves 80% of its homes for households with at least one resident aged 55 or older.
Demand outpaces supply
Even with multiple assisted-living and active-adult communities already in Beverly, Clarke said demand remains strong.
“It seems like there’s a large part of the over-55 population that is in single-family homes on the North Shore,” he said. “And many of them are looking to downsize, simplify their lives, and move into a lower-maintenance, single-floor living situation. And to own, rather than rent. And they’re finding limited choices with that.”
Advertisement:
When Elliott Landing hit the market in late 2017, its units sold quickly. Although it carried no age restriction, Clarke said 90% of the original owners had at least one resident over 55, cementing that group as the core audience for this kind of housing.
For now, Cummings has no additional plans for the Cummings Center, but Clarke said the same demand pressures exist across Greater Boston, and the company is exploring similar projects elsewhere.
“There’s a supply constraint in the market for that type of housing,” he said. “We’re happy to do our part to provide some high-quality homes of that type.”
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address