Building boom accelerates as Novo project breaks ground

Guests ate cinnamon scones and shortbread as they celebrated a housing development six years in the making. 

“It’s good to see dirt get pushed around,” Taurus Investment Holdings CEO Peter Merrigan said before a groundbreaking at his firm’s Novo Riverside Commons on Baker Avenue.

“There’s going to be a lot of dirt moving in the next decade in this town,” Select Board member Paul Boehm said. 

It’s been more than a decade since Acton last had major multifamily construction. The 201-unit Novo is now one of two major projects underway. Others could follow. 

Attendees at Novo’s September 24 event acknowledged headwinds facing this kind of development. 

They also saw lessons from the project that could shape things like MCI-Acton prison campus reuse.

Taurus bought 300-310 Baker Avenue in 2020. Merrigan said he immediately had housing in mind. 

Acton’s lagging share of subsidized homes opened a door in 2023 for Taurus to sidestep town zoning through the state’s 40B affordable housing law.

They cleared the zoning hurdle, but interest rates, supply chain problems, and tariffs spiked costs as Taurus planned new apartments beside the existing 300-310 Baker office building.

The project is becoming a reality because of a deal with Chicago-based L&G Investment Management America.

Developers are incorporating geothermal technology. Plans designate 51 apartments as affordable units, as required under 40B.

Acton’s Municipal Affordable Housing Trust is supporting the project with a grant of more than $392,000 to cover sewer connection costs.

A tale of two projects

Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” played over speakers as dignitaries arrived for the Novo groundbreaking. Organizers opened packages of Acton Teacakes pastries. 

The scene stood in contrast to the one off Forest Ridge Road, where crews recently started building a 237-unit apartment complex. That project will also include affordable housing, but it has spurred criticism for its design and planned tree clearing.

Leaders agree Massachusetts is facing a housing crisis. Select Board member Mary Hartman said Novo is an example of a project done right.

“I believe most people in Acton want to contribute to the solution and not let NIMBYism stand in the way,” she said. 

As for the Forest Ridge complex, now called Alta Thoreau, she said the developers weren’t sensitive to what residents value. 

“You can do housing really well,” she said, “and you can do it really poorly.” 

Traffic and water

Novo’s planned geothermal system is “super-cool” and “enormously expensive,” Select Board Chair Wendy Rovelli told The Bridge. She considers it a test case for geothermal at MCI-Acton. 

Traffic management is a work in progress.

Taurus pledged $100,000 to help Acton redesign the nearby intersection of Baker Avenue and Main Street to handle an expected traffic increase. 

Town officials had hoped to finish the intersection work this fall. The timeline slipped, and Town Manager Kerry Lafleur told The Bridge that a final design should be complete in November. Construction could happen next year.

Locals hoped a planned state overhaul of the Route 2 rotary would also alleviate a choke point at Route 2 and Baker Avenue Extension. After a recent back-and-forth with the state, Rovelli says she doesn’t see that crossing “being modified anytime soon.” 

Town officials remain interested in a pedestrian overpass that could help people cross Route 2. This could take on added importance as Novo residents arrive. 

As some worry about more traffic, Hartman said she’s OK with an increase “if it means we get the benefits from housing.” 

Then, there’s water. 

Between sewerage and drinking water, officials are considering ways to manage increasing demand. Capacity constraints can slow or shrink development.

Hartman is looking to the state. “They’re big on housing, and then they give you no help with infrastructure,” she said. 

Construction timeline

As Novo took shape, Nathan Brennan was working a new job in Acton and looking for a place to live. 

He found only one “relatively affordable” Acton apartment renting at $3,000 a month. He settled on a place in Littleton, splitting the $2,400 rent with his cousin.

Brennan said his “dream situation” would involve living in an accessory dwelling unit near Acton Center. 

“There’s no one solution” to housing problems, he said this spring.

Crews could finish the first of two Novo apartment buildings in 2028 and the second in the first half of 2029. 

Merrigan put construction costs around $85 million. He expects the whole project will cost over $120 million, including what developers have already spent.

Although Novo is proceeding, the housing market remains challenging. Add higher interest rates on top of high land and permitting costs and “all of a sudden, nothing works,” Merrigan said. 

Future projects will probably need more help like the grant Taurus got from Acton’s housing trust, he said. People should also be “realistic” about costs.

“We all want the best sustainability,” he said. “We all want the most affordable housing.” 

But, if the economics don’t work, he said, “then you don’t get any of it.”