Hopkinton Questions Pricing For Luxury At Legacy Farms
Developer says homes at Weston Nurseries site
will sell because, or in spite, of market
Legacy Farms, a mixed-use development in Hopkinton, is expected to bring nearly 1,000 homes with fairly hefty price tags to Hopkinton. And its developer, Boulder Capital LLC, believes if you build it, they will come - and bring their wallets.
But while the company believes the prices they have developed are fair, Hopkinton's economic analyst, Judith A. Barrett, has questioned some of the proposed housing prices in her written responses to Boulder's economic analysis. She would also like Boulder to provide the town with the market analysis it used to set the prices.
Boulder Capital is seeking town meeting approval on May 1 for a proposed open space mixed use development overlay district, which would "memorialize" the open space and development standards that Boulder has promised the town.
The project also still needs permitting approval from a number of local and state agencies before a shovel can enter the ground. Should town meeting approve the overlay district, and if the other permits are approved, Boulder has estimated that it could build and sell 145 of the 940 planned homes between 2010 and 2011.
In fact, by the time ground is broken, the dampened housing market in Massachusetts may be warming up again. Of course, Boulder executives believe their housing will sell either way.
"We believe that if you build a better product that fits the customers and offer it at a fair price, it will do well," Steven Zieff, a Boulder Capital executive said.
Boulder Capital, headed by owner Roy S. MacDowell Jr., has 30 years of experience in developing and building mixed-use projects, and Zieff has worked with MacDowell for about 15 years.
"Even during the darkest days of the last recession, between 1988 and 1992, we were going gangbusters," Zieff said.
Steve N. Zieff, Boulder Capital LLC.Buying The Farm
The Legacy Farms project is slated for the current Weston Nurseries site on East Main Street on over 733 acres. Five hundred of those acres will be devoted to open space, while the 200-plus developed acres will include a mix of housing, apartments and 450,000 square feet of stores and office space. Some of the apartments will be affordable rental units. The nursery will be relocated to a commercial area of the project.
Zieff, the man who dogs the details on Boulder Capital's projects, said nailing down all those fine points is what attracts people to their projects. Making open spaces permanent, building a variety of attractive housing in good-looking clusters and creating scenic roads wherever possible to maintain rural charm are all characteristics Boulder will focus on.
However, Barrett would like to see how the company arrived at an asking price of $795,000 for single-family homes and $745,000 for townhouses. She'd also like to see more detailed descriptions of each housing type. "They are two quite different residential uses," Barrett stated in her interim report on Boulder's fiscal analysis of the project, yet they're very close in price.
Price Point
In a follow-up memo to the developers, Barrett said Legacy Farms townhouses may eventually sell at that price, but she and the town's assessors could not find any townhouses for that price that sold in town during 2006 and 2007. When the housing market was its height, the most expensive townhouse in Hopkinton sold for $650,000.
But the housing market has been in a meltdown in the last couple of years, and sale prices from 2006 and 2007 shouldn't be compared with the prices Boulder has said it will charge, according to John W. Connery, of Connery Associates. Connery developed Boulder's fiscal analysis of its project and responded to Barrett's concerns.
The $745,000 townhouse average reflects a range between $482,000 and $893,000, Connery said. He deemed the average selling price "a fair estimate average sales value given the physical setting and associated amenities of Legacy Farms."
Connery also said that delivery of the first phase of the homes won't be until 2010.
Outsider's Perspective
One independent real estate developer, Ron Roux, owner of Hopkinton's Hallmark Construction Inc., said there is no question in his mind that the homes, all 940 of them, will be absorbed at the projected prices due to their quality and as always, location, location, location.
"This is a very desirable town. We're at the intersection of Interstate 495 and Interstate 90 and you can get everywhere from here: Boston, Springfield, Manchester (N.H.) or Hyannis. And the location of their project just doesn't get any better," he said. The project is located on East Main Street in a very rural area on a parcel that has been home only to the nursery business.
A low housing density rate and high income per capita also makes it an attractive community, Roux said.
Some new construction single-family homes in town have already sold for between $1 and $1.2 million, so an average price of $795,000 will sell, he said.
"This is a very big number of houses, but they're not all going to be built next week. They will be built over time, in phases, and while it's not guaranteed, it is likely the (housing) market will have improved by the time they're ready to start selling," Roux said. "I think they're timing may be perfect. I would love to have a project at the stage they're at."
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