Editor’s Note: Since 2014, more than 20 University of Massachusetts have been closed due to financial difficulties, leaving a large amount of land for developments, including much-needed housing. This is the second in three articles examining whether shuttered university campuses are the solution to the state’s housing crisis.
The historic 1896 Mitton House Mansion gives a stately impression with its brick facade and luxurious interiors.
What once was a Newbury College building is now Newbury, Brookline, a luxury senior housing development that sacrifices rent at least $10,000 a month to residents.
Newbury is the latest list of growth lists of recently closed universities that have successfully completed a luxury residential community, including the University of Massachusetts, Lowell’s West Campus.
This is a trend that concerns some housing professionals and community advocates, including Deborah Brown.
She is president of Brookline Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization working to improve access to affordable housing and economic opportunities in Brookline.
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“You’re creating opportunities, but if you have a bank that’s probably $1.8 million, it’s an opportunity,” Brown said. “I think that’s OK. Do you think it’s the best? Probably not.”
At the same time, some other housing advocates have said that when new homes of all kinds, including luxury homes, can help fund affordable housing, particularly in solving the state’s critical housing shortage. Some argue that it is an important factor.
Seed Money for Affordable Housing
Brown said he is aware that the creation of Newbury in Brookline has increased the town’s tax base.
Newbury College, as an educational institution, did not pay property taxes. The gorgeous senior living residence is projected to pay about $900,000 in property taxes each year, according to Madeline Fitzgerald, who was part of the team that managed Newbury on the Brookline Project.
Newbury in Brookline will also help create affordable homes in the area with a donation of $6,525,000 needed to Brookline’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, according to planning director at Cara Brewton. did.
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Affordable housing is typically for low- or middle-income households who earn less than 80% of the local median, according to Massachusetts law.
Brookline has a median household income from 2019 to 2023 above $140,000, according to census data. Boston had a median household income of nearly $95,000 over the same period.
Nearly 8% of Brookline’s year-round housing units are considered affordable, according to the town.
Read more: Campus Community Closed Mass.
Brookline Group’s seven-figure donation Newbury covers additional units of affordable housing projects for low-income seniors and residents with disabilities, Brewton said.
According to Maria Maffei, director of redevelopment at Brookline Housing Authority, the project is 32 Marion Street and is under construction in January 2026 and is expected to be completed in January 2026.
This is the authorities’ most important project since the 1960s, replacing outdated properties, including 60 affordable units with 115 one-bedroom affordable units, Maffei said .
One household with income between $34,260 and $68,520 will be eligible for the new unit. Households of two are also eligible for different income restrictions.
Brown said the property would not have been completed without a donation from Newbury in Brookline.
“In the end, it turned into a bunch of seed money, or seed money, to make that project work,” she said.
The housing project required a combination of financial sources, not just Brookline’s donation Newbury.
One road to luxury housing achievable and affordable housing
Rich Housing According to Jesse Kanson Benanaf, executive director of Massachusetts, luxury homes could be an integral part of increasing the state’s housing supply.
Like Newbury in Brookline, luxury homes can fund affordable projects, he said.
“As long as we need to continue investing in affordable housing and grow, we don’t have enough state resources to build everything we need. “We actually do have the working class or subsidy. We need to create luxury homes that will help ease the market for low-income people who are not participating in cash-on-homes.”
Jesse Kanson-Benanav is the executive director of abundant housing in Massachusetts.Grainy Daze Studios
In some cases, luxury homes can also free up more homes when luxury homes sell single-family homes and support luxury apartment living.
But not everyone is thinking about it — such as Eloise Lawrence, a Harvard professor and assistant dean of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.
“Providing more luxurious homes is not the answer. We’re adding a lot of luxury homes and knowing the problem is getting worse and it’s not good,” Lawrence said.
She said she was worried about her relying so much on luxury homes that she didn’t think luxury homes would open up the housing market. Some people may use their homes or apartments as secondary homes or as investment property.
At the same time, Lawrence said he realizes that building some homes is better than building nothing.
“Brookline added very few units in the 21st century, right? So I’m in favor of the units being built in Brookline,” she said.
Less than 15% of Brookline’s housing stock was built since 1980.
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This is also a problem for Greater Boston, where a quarter of its housing stock was built since 1980.
A third of the housing stock has been built in Philadelphia and San Francisco since 1980, and more than half have been built in Seattle and Washington, D.C., according to the Boston Foundation, a nonprofit.
Lawrence and Kanson Benanav want more housing to build all income levels.
The state needs to build at least 222,000 homes by 2035, according to a housing plan announced by Gov. Maura Healy earlier this month.
According to Matt Noyes, director of public policy for the Housing Advocacy Agency Civil Housing Planning Association, 222,000, 40%, or 88,800 people should be affordable for 80% of the region’s median. Median local incomes vary based on location and household size.
A 10% or 22,200 housing units should be affordable for very low-income households. Half of these 22,200 should be supportive housing, including behavioral or mental health services, to help residents maintain their housing.
The rest of the homes could be market rate homes, Noyes said.
Incentives to build luxury homes
Douglas Manz, who managed Newbury for the Brookline Project, said the nonprofit developers would “have a much better housing than we do as private market rate developers.”
Douglas Manz (Sebastian Restrepo/MassLive)
Private developers have little federal, state and local funding to enable projects such as grants and tax credits, he said. It is also more difficult to attract investors.
“Our investors have options across the country. They’re not just unique to one market,” Manz says.
If the project fails to make enough profits to investors, they will only move on to the next project, he said.
Manz added that Newbury in Brookline is helping to deal with Brookline’s housing shortage.
He called for an increase in aging people such housing needs a “silver tsunami.”
In 2020, there were approximately 1.2 million people over the age of 65. According to the US administration, this has increased by around 32% over the past 10 years.
He said that when older people leave their detached homes, they will create housing opportunities for younger buyers and provide money for the care they may receive in Newbury, Brookline.
Read more: So “Affordable”: Why affordable housing is still too expensive for those who need it the most
“From our perspective, all the pieces help, right? And it just grows housing stock, allowing for more options,” Manz said.
When Newbury, Brookline, purchased the campus, it sold several of the campus buildings to Brookline nearly $15 million, according to town planning and community development director Cara Brewton.
Brookline’s real estate Newbury is no longer an educational institution, so Brown said the town would use $900,000 in taxes per year to turn the rest of the land at former Newbury College into affordable housing. I’m hoping.
According to Brewton, the committee appointed to the selected board discusses future use of the site, including residential and educational uses.
“Let’s try using what we have. There’s a fair amount of wealth to put affordable housing, and we should see it,” Brown said.
