Blackstone inks deal with housing group
Town officials reach agreement with Soldier On to transfer land for housing project
BLACKSTONE – After more than six months of negotiations, the town and Soldier On, a private non-profit organization that wants to build a housing cooperative for homeless veterans on Elm Street, have reached a land disposition and development agreement to be signed and executed by the selectmen on March 14.
“We’ve reached an accord on all of the terms of the agreement and I think we’re going to have a great affordable housing project for veterans here in town,” Blackstone Town Counsel Patrick Costello said at the board’s meeting on Tuesday.
Costello announced the news minutes after the panel emerged from an executive session with Soldier On CEO Jack Downing and President Gary A. Shepard.
The finalized agreement outlines the terms for the transfer of town-owned land, funding and a development plan for the proposed 150-unit housing project.
The agreement follows yearlong discussions and negotiations between the town and Massachusetts-based Soldier On, which helps veterans reestablish their lives through housing and other services, submitted a proposal to the town last year to win the chance to develop low- to moderate-income housing for veterans on a parcel on Elm Street that’s laid dormant for close to 20 years.
The town had issued a request for proposals under the state’s uniform procurement act to solicit bids, and Soldier On was the only developer to submit a proposal.
Special Town Meeting voters in February of last year approved a change of use for a portion of Veterans Park - a large expanse of vacant land on Elm Street that has been sitting idle since 1997. Approval of the article was an important first step to allow the property to be developed for lowto moderate-income housing for veterans, which will take the form of a permanent housing cooperative constructed by Soldier On. It will be the group’s fourth housing location in Massachusetts.
The Veterans Park land was purchased by the town years ago as a public water supply. While a portion of that property is restricted for that use, the remainder of the property has been vacant.
As part of the land disposition and development agreement, Soldier On is proposing a 150-unit housing project similar to its 71bed transitional living facility in Pittsfield, Mass, where veterans own their own one-bedroom and loft-style apartments, in a community with other veterans. The Blackstone project would be built by Soldier On, which would pay property taxes to the town. As part of the deal, Soldier On will provide a minimum of $500,000 to the town for a new soccer and softball field on site, which will be constructed by the town.
The plan is to build the athletic fields first. The housing would be built around that in increments over a period of two to three years.
It could be several months to a couple of years before Soldier On lines up the funding needed for the project, but once the development agreement is signed on March 14, the project can be taxed by the town.
“It’s been a long process, but I think we’re going to have a nice hand-and-glove operation between the town and Soldier On,” Keyes said Tuesday.
The Blackstone facility will be modeled after the Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community, a housing model that is being replicated nationally by Soldier On. That facility was built at a cost of $6.1 million with a combination of federal, local, and private foundation money and is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Human Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The veterans pay anywhere between $580 and $682 for rent. They also pay $2,500 to buy a limited-equity ownership in the development, which allows them to share in the success and maintenance of the community mutually.