Thoreau apartments project in full swing after rebranding

Crews have been busy in the woods off Forest Ridge Road this fall as they start work on the rebranded Alta Thoreau housing complex. 

Developers announced their groundbreaking last month and have demolished cabins that hosted the Camp Thoreau summer program. 

After a lengthy approval process and well over a year spent waiting for developers to secure building permits, Select Board chair Wendy Rovelli said “it’s great to see” Alta and additional housing on Baker Avenue proceeding.

The state’s 40B housing law let the Boston-based Pinebrook Group sidestep town zoning and win approval for 237 apartments in two five-story buildings last spring.

The Wood Partners development firm bought the Forest Ridge Road land through an LLC in August for just under $10.7 million, real estate records show. 

Wood Partners renamed the planned complex from The Residences at Thoreau to Alta Thoreau.

Sixty Alta apartments will be designated as affordable. Crews could finish construction in 2028, per Wood Partners.

Construction noise echoed through the town’s Powder Mill forest one recent morning. Only a single Camp Thoreau building remained. Children’s lean-tos made from fallen branches stood just outside the fence line.

The Thoreau Club, which Pinebrook owns, announced that Camp Thoreau had been discontinued for the 2026 season.

General Manager Jay Herson told The Acton Bridge in March that staff were examining ways to revive the program. He didn’t respond to questions seeking an update this month.

Community concerns

Critics have bemoaned tree cutting and Alta’s overall design.

Wood Partners Managing Director Jim Lambert touted Alta Thoreau in a news release as combining “modern design with a deep respect for the site’s natural setting and the community’s enduring character.”

Spokesperson Addy Kundla wouldn’t disclose Wood Partners’ expected construction costs.

The development will meet “passive house” energy efficiency standards. It will also include porous pavement meant to prevent stormwater runoff pollution, per Wood Partners’ announcement. 

Alta and the new Novo Riverside Commons on Baker Avenue will raise Acton’s proportion of subsidized housing units and insulate the town against future zoning-exempt 40B proposals.

MCI-Acton prison reuse plans are also taking shape, and residents are moving into 230 new apartments just across the town line in a complex called Rivage at Acton.

Some in Acton are worried about more cars on the roads. “Traffic is something that we have to continue to work on,” Rovelli told The Bridge. 

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said Alta’s developers applied for their building permit in late September. Alta and Novo are netting Acton more than $1.26 million in permit revenue, she told the Select Board. 

Officials could use the windfall to reduce an expected upcoming tax increase. The town could alternatively let the money fall into free cash at Town Meeting and use it for another purpose. 

Lafleur told The Bridge that she plans to discuss the choice with the Select Board early next month ahead of a November 16 tax rate hearing.