WELLFLEET — Three organizations have submitted proposals to build affordable housing at 95 Lawrence Road, with price tags ranging from $14.6 million to $20.2 million. Two are familiar names on the Cape; the third is a Massachusetts company looking to make inroads here.
The submissions will now be reviewed by the 95 Lawrence Road Task Force. All three propose to build 46 units, the maximum the town allowed, with varying levels of affordability.
The site is six acres of town-owned land across from the elementary school. The complex, along with some municipal buildings nearby, will be served by its own sewer system, with the cost shared by the town and the developer.
The Community Builders
This Boston nonprofit proposed a $19.3 million “residential community nestled within a forested area.”
The design would blend historic with modern elements, divided into two areas clustered around the elementary school ballfield. The Schoolhouse Corner portion would be a small neighborhood of 15 apartments housed in four cottages and one larger building. The Lawrence Green section would have 31 apartments, housed in 2½-story duplexes, with a shared green and amenities like a community building.
The proposal calls for eight studios, 20 one-bedroom, 13 two-bedroom, and 5 three-bedroom units.
The Community Builders built and manages the 50-unit Province Landing in Provincetown.
POAH with the CDP
Preservation of Affordable Housing is a large nonprofit that has partnered with the Eastham-based Community Development Partnership on a $20.2 million proposal called Long Pond Village, where all units would be affordable. CDP will be involved from permitting up to renting the units, according to CEO Jay Coburn. The project will then be owned and managed by POAH.
POAH and CDP describe their building design as reflecting a “mid-century modern house” flavor. The project features the “family-oriented” Upper Village, which wraps around the ballfield and includes 24 townhouse units of two and three bedrooms, housed in seven buildings. The Lower Village, which fronts Lawrence and Long Pond roads and is envisioned to serve seniors and smaller households, consists of a single elevator building with 22 one- and two-bedroom apartments, a community living room, patio, garden area, and laundry.
Building will be done predominantly on areas of the site that have already been disturbed, so woods and buffers will remain. Solar panels on the buildings are anticipated to generate enough power to support the development.
POAH has owned and operated affordable housing on Cape Cod since 2009, when it completed the first phase of Canal Bluffs in Bourne. Its latest project is Brewster Woods, a 30-unit affordable housing complex on Brewster Housing Authority land.
Civico Development
Civico, a Hopedale-based for-profit real estate development firm with experience in building affordable projects, submitted a housing proposal aimed at the “missing middle,” according to Taylor Bearden, Civico’s project manager.
“We took the approach of workforce housing,” he said. The $14.6-million proposal calls for 46 apartments. Forty of those would be one- and two-bedroom units housed in 10 two-story New England-style homes. The six three-bedroom units will be housed in individual cottages. Architectural design is being handled by Union Studio Architecture, a Rhode Island firm with extensive experience on the Cape.
The 16 buildings will be clustered around the ballfield on the site, with pocket parks and other greenery as part of the design. Decentralized solar arrays are planned to offset energy costs.
Civico is the one bidder that said it would seek a third party to handle management.
