Wayland is courting a major rental complex
In a move that’s somewhat unusual for rental phobic suburbs, town officials are putting out to bid eight acres of land on the Sudbury River.
Wayland has just about everything you could want in a town, from a beautiful old New England center to great schools – everything, that is, except apartments.
But that may be about to change.
In a move that’s somewhat unusual for rental phobic suburbs, Wayland officials are putting out to bid eight acres of land on the Sudbury River in hopes of attracting a developer interested in building a mix of market-rate and affordable apartments.
The new owner will be able to build as many as 190 apartments along the site on Route 20, dubbed “River’s Edge,’’ by town officials, with three-story buildings near the front of the site and a four-story building in the back.
The apartments will help provide a badly needed alternative for Wayland seniors looking to downsize, but who can’t find a smaller house to buy, while also providing an alternative for those priced out of the starter-home market, said Rebecca Stanizzi, chair of the town’s Economic Development Committee, which has drafted the proposal.
The details
The site itself is owned by the town and has been used over the years for everything from a firing range for the local police to a facility to process and clean sewage drained from local septic tanks.
“Wayland really doesn’t have rental housing,’’ Stanizzi said. “You have to be a homeowner or you can’t really live here.’’
Town officials are hoping to have a developer in place by next spring, with a construction launch possible by year end.
The overall size of the units has been laid out as well, with an emphasis on more compact living spaces in order to keep rents down.
Rents are expected to fall in the $1,800 to $1,900 range for a 750- to 850-square-foot one-bedroom, rising to $2,200 to $2,450 for a 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom, Stanizzi said.
A quarter of the units will be subsidized at below market rents, a group that will also include a few three-bedrooms as well, she said.
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Another 25 percent of the apartments proposed for the site will be reserved for older renters, 55 and up.
“People who are retiring, if they want to stay in Wayland, their only option is buying a $700,000 condo, which may be beyond their means,’’ Stanizzi said.
The proposal is the brain child of the town’s Economic Development Committee, which, led by Stanizzi, a veteran real estate executive, has spent four years teeing up the site for a potential sale.
The committee has already done much of the preliminary planning and zoning work, ensuring what could be a slam dunk for a builder looking to roll out rental units in a market starved for new housing.
Addressing a need, or several
The decision to use the town-owned site for new housing came amid mounting evidence of a couple missing pieces in the town’s housing puzzle, Stanizzi said.
The need to provide more options for older Wayland residents was driven home when a long-time volunteer on various town boards was forced to resign after he sold his house and had to move to Framingham in order to find rental housing.
Along with not having any apartments, Wayland, which has one of the highest median home prices in the state, also lags in affordable housing.
Just 4 percent of Wayland housing is considered affordable by state regulators, well under the 10 percent suggested minimum.
But the addition of nearly 200 units will make a big difference, pushing that number up to nearly 9 percent, Stanizzi said.
While sizable apartment buildings can be controversial in the suburbs, the new apartments could bring in an additional $300,000 a year in new revenue, enough, for example, to help finance millions in renovations or expansions to town facilities.
“If you are concerned about your taxes, this is a way to create value, both short and long-term,’’ Stanizzi said.
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