Spotlight 2: Massive Mixed Use in Hopkinton
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GREEN ACRES: The long-stalled Legacy Farms project in Hopkinton could finally get off the ground this year.
This could be the year that Baystone Development LLC breaks ground on the first of nearly 1,000 dwellings in one of the biggest development projects in Hopkinton’s history.
The developer of Legacy Farms is gearing up to break ground this spring on the $500-million project, which is sited on the 730-acre property that was formerly Weston Nurseries.
The mixed-use project, which will combine 940 dwellings with 450,000 square feet of commercial space, could take until 2015 to complete as it will be built in multiple phases. More than 500 acres are expected to be preserved as open space.
Step One
The first stage of the project will be the apartments. Shifts in the housing market spurred developer Roy McDowell Jr. late last year to ask Hopkinton officials for permission to increase the number of one-bedroom units at the development, while eliminating the three-bedroom units he had first proposed in 2008. McDowell hopes to build apartments first to get the project off the ground.
McDowell’s son, Roy McDowell III, said in a recent telephone interview that apartments could start going up this summer. Infrastructure work at the property is slated to begin in the spring.
The town approved the amended plan and now Baystone Development is seeking approvals for the first several “pod” clusters, which are like individual neighborhoods that will contain groups of apartments on the sprawling property.
The board voted in May 2010 to approve the master permit for the project. The town also approved an agreement with Baystone, which requires the development to generate more revenue than it eats up in services. McDowell III told town officials that he plans to stick to that agreement by reducing the quantity of three-bedroom apartments in favor of smaller units that would draw singles or couples without children.
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