It’s not quite the affordable units that housing advocates say the region needs more of, but a developer appears to have restored peace to a Manchester-by-the-Sea neighborhood as he builds the Summer Hill development on the former site of one of the North Shore’s seaside estates.
Twelve houses starting at $1.6 million are being built on a 14-acre site by Windover Construction of Manchester. The homes offer such amenities three-season porches and a private walking trail to Magnolia Beach.
The previous property owners drew the ire of neighbors after building an indoor horse riding ring, which the town ordered torn down. In 2007, the owners moved out of state and proposed a 36-unit condo complex under Chapter 40B, the state’s affordable housing law.
The couple didn’t follow through with the affordable development, and Windover acquired the property for $3 million with a different type of housing in mind.
“I didn’t like the plan at all,” Windover President Lee Dellicker said. “I tried to find a way to do a little less dense project and still make the numbers work. We found this cluster bylaw and tried to see if we could make it work.”
The project was the first approved under the town’s cluster development bylaw since it was enacted in 1984, a reflection of the shortage of buildable vacant parcels in town, Dellicker said. The three- and four-bedroom houses are clustered on lots averaging 10,000 square feet around a central green surrounded by 14 acres of conservation land.
-Steve Adams
