$30M subdivision plows ahead

As affordable housing projects face financial headwinds, one local developer says his firm had no such trouble finding funding and will break ground this month on a more than $30 million subdivision in West Acton.

Symes Development & Permitting sued the town twice over its plans for 20 market-rate homes near the corner of Main and Highland Streets. 

Symes won in court, and the Zoning Board of Appeals issued its latest decision in April. 

While Symes Business Development Manager Jeff Rhuda downplayed economic factors, the NOVO Riverside Commons development on Baker Avenue has sat for more than a year without immediate plans for a groundbreaking.

NOVO’s blend of affordable and market rate units — compared with Symes’ all market rate plan — is one difference between the projects and could help explain the disparate timelines. 

Local developer John Boynton said builders usually lose money on affordable units and compensate by hiking prices on market-rate apartments. The arrangement can suffice, but it can also narrow a project’s margins and leave it more vulnerable to economic volatility, said Susan Kadilak, president-elect of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts. 

“All the numbers have to work,” Kadilak said. “And those price hikes really impact the overall project.”