Source :: hopnews.com
Original Publication Date :: May 2011
Groundbreaking for 240 apartments expected in October
“That’s when we’ll break out the champagne!” President Roy MacDowell
Above, Planning Board member Carol DeVeuve signing official road plans that will be submitted to the Registry of Deeds.
May 5, 2011 — The story became public on February 10, 2005: Weston Nurseries land, over 600 acres of it, was for sale, and the Town of Hopkinton would have the first shot at purchasing the farmland under Chapter 61A, a program that grants reduced taxes for farmland in exchange for the right of first refusal when a property is put up for sale.
After entertaining various entities for a partnership in developing the property if the town purchased it, the Weston Nurseries land went before Town Meeting to purchase it outright. On June 11, 2007, Town Meeting failed to vote the two-thirds necessary to purchase the land. It failed by 3 votes, facilitating the Purchase and Sale agreement between Boulder Capital (Now known as Baystone Development) and Weston Nurseries.
<——– (First story on Weston Nurseries land Sale, Feb 10, 2005)
On April 22, 2008, the Board of Selectmen signed a Host Community Agreement with Legacy Farms, the name of the overall development that is configured to consist of 940 units on over 720 acres, much of which will be restricted land. The HCA specifies conditions of agreement between the town and the developer, such as a three-phase Grove Street/Main Street traffic improvement plan. Part of that plan has already been implemented with the new signaling that was installed at that intersection last year. Another condition requires a payment to the school department if the student population in the project passes agreed limits.
All of the hard work and capital investment paid off this evening when the Planning Board voted to approve Southwest Village, 240 units of apartments to be designed and built by Wood Partners in the southern end of the property. In addition, the Planning Board approved the plan by Legacy Farms for the roadway to serve that complex.
After the meeting, Wood Partners VP of Development Adelaide Grady said that she expected groundbreaking for the construction to take place in October.
The Planning Board gave them five years to complete the project following groundbreaking.
