by John Osborn ·
Friday, June 5, 2026
The Harvard Select Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a $1 million investment by the town’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust to subsidize 12 affordable apartments in a 46-unit rental complex being built at Emerson Green in Devens. A decade in the making, the deal will nearly halve Harvard’s affordable housing gap, earn two years of protection from unwanted development under state law, and add much-needed affordable housing to the region.
The 5-0 vote authorized the trust to spend $1 million of its affordable housing fund to reduce rents on 12 apartments to levels that low-income families can afford, capped for four-person households earning up to $132,300 a year, or 80% of the area’s median income.
Harvard sits below the threshold at which state law shields towns from unwanted development. Under Chapter 40B, developers can override local zoning in towns where fewer than 10% of homes are deed-restricted as affordable. Harvard currently has 126 qualifying units on the state’s subsidized housing inventory (SHI) and needs 220 to reach safety.
Because Devens is not subject to Chapter 40B, development there adds to Harvard’s housing count without improving its SHI standing. By subsidizing 12 units, Harvard qualifies the building for a state rule that counts all units in a rental complex toward the SHI when at least 25% are affordable, bringing all 46 into Harvard’s count. The board made its approval contingent on written confirmation from town counsel that all 46 units will be credited.
Drawing of the proposed apartment building at Emerson Green. (Courtesy drawing)
The region surrounding Devens has a critically low housing vacancy rate. Fewer than 1.1% of homes are currently available to rent or buy, and median home prices have more than doubled since 2012. The apartment complex, which will be known as Emerson Green Residences, would add 46 rental apartments to a market where rentals are especially scarce.
The all-electric, fully accessible building comprises two attached structures and a shared lobby (see drawing), with 17 one-bedroom units, 25 two-bedroom units, and four three-bedroom units. One side of the building faces the development’s central park.
Devens requires workforce housing in new developments, but not the deeply affordable units that count toward Harvard’s SHI. The trust’s $1 million bought what no regulation required.
The trust’s affordable housing fund currently totals approximately $1.4 million; roughly $400,000 would remain after the investment. Arielle Jennings, chair of the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust, said the per-unit cost of the subsidy, just under $84,000, falls at the low end of a range she found when surveying comparable investments in surrounding towns. In an interview before Tuesday’s meeting, Jennings credited NOW Communities principal Dan Gainsboro and the builder, Elite Home Builders, with the flexibility to close a deal that required both parties to find common ground.
Construction of the apartment complex is the third of four construction phases at Emerson Green. Fifty-eight of the development’s for-sale homes have already been built; 26 more remain, but cannot proceed until construction is underway on the rental building. Gainsboro said he spent years searching for a partner with the financial strength and experience to operate a rental building, a fundamentally different business, he noted, than building homes for sale. He said Tuesday that he had found that partner in Elite Home Builders, which will construct and operate the complex.
“They not only have the experience and the capacity,” Gainsboro said, “but they also share a lot of the core values we brought to the project: sustainability, energy efficiency, smart design.” Construction is expected to resume this month, with occupancy targeted for summer 2027.
The project has been in the works for a decade. A preliminary agreement between the town and NOW Communities dates to 2015, when the trust committed $140,000 toward 10 affordable units in a then-planned 40-unit building. The project stalled repeatedly. “We literally had concrete trucks on the way,” Gainsboro said Tuesday night, “and then a little event happened … called COVID.” Construction costs rose by more than 200% during the pandemic years; interest rates climbed from 3% to 6%. When permits were reissued in 2022, the building grew to 46 units and the affordable commitment expanded to 12.
Jennings was joined at Tuesday’s meeting by Erin McBee, a member of the trust who helped negotiate the deal with NOW Communities and Elite Home Builders. Also present were Gainsboro and Cohen Babcock of Elite Home Builders. If the SHI confirmation comes through as expected, the trust will work with town counsel to draft a funding agreement covering affordability commitments, milestone-based payments, and written assurances that the money will be returned if the affordable units are not delivered.
Select Board member SusanMary Redinger framed the vote in terms of community need. “This is a real win for the region,” she said. “We have such a lack of housing for our volunteers, for our firefighters, for teachers, so many people who really can’t find housing near where they work.”
Emerson Green is one of several housing initiatives taking shape at Devens, where the pace of residential development is accelerating. The 2024 Mass Leads Act removed a decades-old housing cap that had limited Devens to 282 residential units. A state working group that included a Harvard Select Board member issued a report in May 2025 recommending that housing be permitted in Devens’ Innovation and Technology Center district, roughly 90 acres including Vicksburg Square that is currently zoned for commercial use only; a zoning amendment will be required to allow residential construction.
MassDevelopment has also issued requests for proposals for two additional sites: roughly 62 acres along Grant Road, and 6.6 acres at Adams Circle projected to yield 30 to 50 units. Responses were due in February, but MassDevelopment has been silent on its plans. Reframe Systems of Andover is already building six duplexes at Adams Circle, with occupancy expected this summer.