Metro West Collaborative Development, which seeks to build a 32-unit affordable housing complex on a dead-end street in South Natick off Rte. 16, failed to score state funding for the project on its first attempt. The developer will try again later this year for a Community One Stop for Growth Award from the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
“It typically takes two rounds of applications to get funding, so this wasn’t entirely unexpected,” said Natick Select Board Chair Kathryn Coughlin at the start of that elected body’s Sept. 16 meeting. Another funding round is due in December, she added, with results revealed in the spring.
The Select Board unanimously voted to issue a letter of support for Metro West earlier this year as the nonprofit developer sought state funding with hopes of starting construction on the former school site as soon as next year.
Metro West Collaborative earlier this year made it through Natick’s permitting process, which included thorough Zoning Board of Appeals proceedings and eking out approval by the Conservation Commission for a project that abuts the Charles River just downstream of the former spillway.
While Metro West’s initial bid for state funding fizzled out, it has had great success at the local level. The town agreed to sell the nearly 3-acre property to Metro West for $1oo, as the Select Board in 2023 voted 3-2 in favor of the 40B project to help address the town’s affordable housing shortage. Last year, Fall Annual Town Meeting approved awarding Metro West $750k in Community Preservation Act funds, which come from a property tax surcharge and matching state monies. The Natick Affordable Housing Trust has committed $600k toward the project.
The project cost, which has risen steadily over the years, is now estimated at more than $25m, according to a recent legal notice for environmental review for a federally-funded project.
