Trust Approves $1.3 Million For West Harwich Square

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 HARWICH – The affordable housing trust Monday approved a $1,375,000 contribution to the West Harwich Square project, which will yield five affordable housing units on property at 48 and 52 Route 28. The funds will be used to assist in the 14-unit first phase of the development.

Developer John Carey said he is planning a two-phase project on the 1.5-acre site at the corner of Route 28 and Depot Street. The initial phase calls for 14 one- and two-bedroom units, 12 of which will be in a new multifamily structure called the Caleb Chase Building. Two additional units will be located in the historic Captain George W. Baker House,  built in 1870, which has been relocated to the rear of the lot.   

 The second phase will include 15 housing units and 3,820 square feet of commercial space in a mixed use building designed to resemble the former Exchange Building, which stood in Harwich Center before it was demolished in 1964. Carey said the replica will be three-and-a-half stories and not the original Exchange’s four-and-a-half stories.

In the Jan. 12 meeting, trust members also voted to contribute $500,000 to the 60-unit income- and rent-restricted Pennrose project now under comprehensive permit review by the appeals board on property at 456 Queen Anne Road (see separate story on page 1).  

Carey told trust members Monday that he plans to breathe new life into West Harwich, which was a thriving village 150 years ago. He has restored the historic West Harwich schoolhouse, converting it and a second building into 10 housing units. He plans to convert the West Harwich Baptist Church into the West Harwich Meetinghouse, and is now putting forward the West Harwich Square project.

“Without your help my project is not going to be happening,” Carey said.

West Harwich resident and planning board chair Duncan Berry said the former Belmont Hotel used to draw 1,000 people a day into the village, but it was torn down, and now the village is a ghost town. 

“Before you, you have somebody who is building a neighborhood,” Berry said. “We should be in that business. The concept itself is breathtaking.”

Carey said he has a private construction loan for $2.5 million, and he and his wife, Piper Connolly, will make a private investment. The first phase, with the 14 units, will cost $4.5 million, he said. Carey said he has made a presentation to the planning board and been before the town’s community development group and has received strong support for the project.

He said the trust would be getting five affordable housing units, but the added benefit is that all 14 units will be placed on the state subsidized housing inventory as the town seeks to reach the goal of 10 percent of its housing stock being affordable. The five proposed affordable housing units would be available for tenants at 80 percent of the area median income, he said.

Praising the proposal, trust member Bob Spencer asked when the project would be done. Carey said work would start in September and it would be done by January 2028.

“It’s entirely possible any of the other projects will not be started when this is done,” Spencer said of larger projects seeking trust funding, such as Pine Oaks Village IV and the Pennrose project. “It’s one of the benefits to us to partner with you rather than a corporation,”

“You’re exactly who I want to bet on,” trust member and Select Board member Jeffrey Handler said. “You are local, and contributing to this community and giving back. Some might feel this project is not perfect, but what’s there now is not perfect and this will make West Harwich look different.”

Affordable Housing Trust Chair Larry Ballantine said the trust has $2.9 million available, adding that it has not received the Community Preservation Act funds approved in town meeting last May

  Carey said the apartments built in the former schoolhouse cost $210,000 per unit. The proposed units will cost $275,000, he said, based on inflation and the units being 25 percent larger. Carey said of the 10 units at the schoolhouse, eight are occupied by tenants who work in Harwich. The $1,375,000 sought will cover the cost of the five affordable housing units at $275,000 each. The affordable units will include four two-bedroom units and one one-bedroom unit, said Carey.

Handler put forward a motion for the trust to approve the $1,375,000 for the first phase of the West Harwich Square project and laid out the way portions of the finances are to be distributed as milestones are made in the project. The motion was approved 4-0.

Regarding the Pennrose funding, Ballantine said the trust has had several sessions with Pennrose and the sentiment was that the trust would provide the $500,000 when the agreement it has to lease the trust's property for the 60-unit development is executed. That date was projected to be in 2028.

The trust paid $800,000 for the 11.6-acre parcel at 456 Queen Anne Rd. The lease agreement, Ballantine said, called for Pennrose to pay the trust $800,000 for the 99-year lease of the property. If the trust does not commit to the $500,000 contribution, then Pennrose will provide only $300,000 for the lease.

“The $500,000 shows our support for the project,” Ballantine said. 

“I’m in favor, this is a project where we’ve chosen the developer and the design,” said Spencer. 

Resident Matt Sutphin took exception to the funding, saying much has changed since the trust began moving forward with the project, including the Pine Oaks Village IV project and the potential development of the former Marceline junkyard on Route 124. He urged the trust to slow down and scale down the project. He also challenged the use of the state 40B statute, saying the provisions allow for the bypass of local review and home rule.

“The doormat to Harwich is going to become congested,” said Sutphin.  

Handler’s motion to provide $500,000 for the Pennrose project was unanimously approved.