Town Greets Housing Project with Mixed Emotions

MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, MA-A housing project with a commercial component and affordable-housing units is being planned for this town’s downtown area. While town officials are supportive of the project– which is being developed with public and private funds– some local residents have concerns.

The Manchester Housing Authority plans to redevelop a block that contains one of the largest undeveloped parcels in downtown Manchester. The plan involves constructing affordable and market-rate housing, and commercial space. The housing authority contracted with the newly formed Manchester Affordable Housing Corp., a private nonprofit, to renovate and manage the apartment building, called Harbor Hill, and to construct 24 condominiums, five of which would be sold to first-time homebuyers.

Four small businesses currently in a commercial block would be replaced with six commercial condominiums, to be sold at market rate, and would help pay for the affordable housing component. According to Joanne Graves, executive director of the Manchester Housing Authority, there will be 80 units of senior housing and four units of affordable housing.