Wednesday, September 2, 2015

A Presidential Expansion

Presidential Apartments, nine new buildings with plenty of parking

Kendrick Place, with 36 units/104 tenants, wasn't the only new apartment complex to open for business yesterday.  Presidential Apartments, built back in the 1960s, opened an entire new cluster of nine buildings holding 54 units/96 tenants.

But unlike Kendrick Place, six of those units will be "affordable" thereby adding to the town's Subsidized Housing Index which currently stands at 11.18%.

Any community in Massachusetts with an SHI lower than 10% is open to a Ch40B development that allows bypassing of local zoning ordinances for a housing project with at least 20% of the units subsidized.

 Moving in yesterday

"College aged youth" currently make up 59% of Amherst's population because of course UMass, our #1 employer. 

Kendrick Place and Presidential Apartments are, like bookends, conveniently located on either side of our flagship of higher education. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Right where they belong. Near campus. Shows The Retreat was really a bad idea after all.

Anonymous said...

Not the most beautiful buildings but functional and well placed. I imagine many students and low income families would prefer new construction up to current codes over the decrepit other complexes or even existing single family homes. Any idea of the occupancy levels?

9:06, not sure who you mean thought the Retreat was a good idea other than the developers (and even they changed their minds). From the hearings I attended it seemed the planners were skeptical and ready to deny it. Not one person spoke in favor of it.

Anonymous said...

Housing +, taxes +, public services =/-. Good luck if you need an ambulance or cop on bay rd

Anonymous said...

I might prefer new construction too.....

Anonymous said...

They look nice!

Unknown said...

That drone was a great investment!

Larry Kelley said...

Sure is. Game changer!