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MassDevelopment In The News
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Village Hill Construction Begins May 17, 2008: Daily Hampshire Gazette, by Chad Cain NORTHAMPTON - With construction equipment serving as an apropos backdrop, supporters of the redevelopment of the former state hospital grounds gathered Friday afternoon to mark the start of construction of three new residential complexes. All told, they will include 63 new units of single-family homes, townhouses, and mixed-income rental apartments as part of Village Hill Northampton, a $28 million redevelopment of the 126-acre site that once housed Northampton State Hospital. "This will be a great place to live," said Robert L. Culver, president and CEO of MassDevelopment, as he kicked off Friday's ceremony. MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, also unveiled a marketing campaign to attract new residents and business tenants. Components of the campaign include a Web site - villagehillnorthampton.com - a new logo, and radio and print advertising. Construction of the new housing units garnered most of the attention at Friday's ceremony. Northampton-based Wright Builders Inc. is constructing an 11 single-family home development called Morningside along Olander Drive, and a 12-unit townhouse complex called Eastview at the corner of Olander Drive and Moser Street. The Community Builders Inc., of Springfield, is building 40 new townhouse and apartment units for families and individuals with a range of incomes on Village Hill Road, Moser Street, and Musante Drive. Construction of three homes in the Morningside development is already under way. Jonathan Wright, chief executive officer of Wright Builders, said that two homes are already sold, and two more have deposits on them for the fall and next spring. The homes will be priced in the mid-$500,000 range, according to marketing materials. They start at 2,200 square feet of floor space, and will feature four architectural styles - Victorian, Craftsman, Colonial, and Greek Revival. "These homes are based on architectural types that occur already in Northampton," said Wright. The Eastview complex will include three townhouse buildings, each containing four units, three garages, a courtyard, and 12 parking spaces. Construction of the first building is expected to begin before fall, Wright said. The two-bedroom townhouses will be sold in the low $300,000 range, with the three-bedroom units selling in the low $400,000 range. Morningside and Eastview will feature a "new urbanism" look. Culver defines new urbanism as a building philosophy that uses land as efficiently as possible, reinforces "people first" with sidewalks and alleys for walking, and incorporates open space. Wright said the new development is designed to steer away from the suburban model of home building that has been popular over the last 15 years, which tends to build on larger lots in remote areas. The development will incorporate many shared features. The single-family homes, for example, will be built in pairs so that two homes will share the same driveway. The townhouse complex will take up about two-thirds of an acre and share common paving areas that use less space and make tasks such as snow removal easier. "This type of building arrangement is going to be more sustainable and efficient," Wright said. The developments are to be LEEDS-certified, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating. The Community Builders Inc. of Springfield began construction of the 40 mixed-income apartments this week. The apartments will include hardwood floors, air-conditioning, solar panels on the roof, and highly efficient energy systems, said Tom Kegelman of Community Builders. The development will also include a playground and wireless Internet service for residents. This is CBI's third project at Village Hill, following the 26-home Ice Pond subdivision and the 33-unit Hilltop apartments. All three developments are designed to attract people of all incomes. He said CBI will likely begin taking applications for the rental units by the end of summer. MassDevelopment is developing Village Hill Northampton in cooperation with The Community Builders. The two entities make up Hospital Hill LLC, which owns the property. The development is expected to have 337,000 square feet of commercial, industrial and research space on the south side of campus and about 200 housing units on the north side. The city projects this buildout will create or retain 400 to 800 jobs. Village Hill signed its first commercial tenant last fall when high-end furniture maker VCA Inc. of Easthampton inked a deal to construct a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on the south side of the campus. The building is going up on a 3-acre site on Earle Street in the vicinity of Grove Street and Route 66. Other speakers at the groundbreaking were Mayor Clare Higgins and state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg. © Copyright 2008 Daily Hampshire Gazette.
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