A 30-acre property that had been considered as a site to build affordable rental apartments will be sold in one piece and as is, Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Chairman Greg Schmidt said this week. Existing lots on the property with frontage on Pinnacle Road will not be sold separately, he said. Rhonda Sprague of Harvard Realty will be the listing broker for 166 Littleton Road, the town’s former Poor Farm.
Harvard Realty was selected during a March 9 executive session of the trust, the first meeting held since January. Schmidt noted that the selection of the realtor was delayed by meetings canceled because of snow.
Last fall, a controversial plan for between 30 and 36 apartments in 10 to 14 traditional-style buildings was proposed for the site; the property’s circa 1878 farmhouse and about 24 acres of open space were to be preserved. By late December, the trust had dropped its proposal and voted to sell the property, bought in 2013 for $1.2 million.
Recovering costs of property
According to the trust’s “financial position” reports from July 2013 to the present, costs for the property—in addition to a $1 million mortgage—amount to approximately $306,000, including the down payment, insurance, and other carrying costs. After the property is sold and the mortgage paid off, any profit will return to the trust’s coffers, which currently contain $402,386.39. The trust is funded through community preservation funds and developer donations, where $5,000 is paid for each affordable unit sold in Harvard, such as at the Trail Ridge Chapter 40B project on Littleton County Road. Since its inception in 2006, the trust has received $650,000 in preservation funds, according to the town’s finance director, Lorraine Leonard.
The property will be listed for sale in the weeks to come, Schmidt said, adding that because community preservation money was used to buy the parcel, the trust must follow state procurement laws (Chapter 30B), which require extra paperwork, including a request for proposal in relation to the sale. The law also sets a date “before which we are not allowed to respond to offers,” Schmidt said. Town Counsel Mark Lanza is helping the trust comply with the provisions of 30B.
During the public part of their March 9 meeting, trust members voted to recommend that the selectmen appoint architect Manny Lindo of Littleton Road to fill a vacancy on the trust.
