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Jim Lambert
Title: Director, Wood Partners
Age: 36
Industry experience: 13 years
Wood Partners broke ground in April on the 196-unit Alta Union House, a $160 million apartment complex and downtown Framingham’s largest residential development in four decades. Jim Lambert heads the company’s Greater Boston offices, which oversee development throughout New England. Prior to joining Wood Partners, Lambert led development in Greater Boston for Mill Creek Residential Trust, including development of the Modera Medford apartments at Wellington Circle.
Q: How far along was Wood Partners on the assemblage of the parcels for Alta Union House when you joined the company?
A: When I got here, I had been working on Mill Creek’s Modera Framingham (multifamily development), so I was intimately familiar with what was going to be going in there. When I got here to Wood Partners, I started poking around for some other sites in Framingham and this one became available through a local broker and we made an offer. There were six parcels, five of which were really the same owner, and a church parcel.
Q: What prevented more of these types of projects from being built in Framingham until now?
A: Certainly zoning. Framingham made a decision to rezone their downtown for high-density multifamily housing and mixed use. We need more cities and towns in Massachusetts to follow suit. We have some, but not as many as we need. So zoning is number one.
And cost and availability of land around train stations, where owners see a pretty high value in their land. It’s tough to make deals pencil out between land costs and rising construction costs. In our deal, we pursued and were successful in obtaining a (tax increment financing) agreement. It’s an urban center housing TIF, which is not new, but it had been sparsely utilized previously. We were one of the first residential developers to utilize the program.
There were some regulatory changes that happened last year that enabled us to move forward. There was a mismatch in the affordable housing requirements and what the local zoning in Framingham allowed, and that was revised last year. So we moved forward, and now the TIF will match the inclusionary housing policy.
Q: What are the projected rents and demographics at Alta Union House?
A: The sweet spot for rents per square foot in Framingham is about $2.50. For the core demographic, the stock answer is the 25- to 35-year-old Millennials, but we think it’s much wider than that. It’s any non-family households who are looking for an urban experience at a lower rent level than you can find in Boston and the inner suburban locations.
There is a significant amount of employment in and around Framingham. We view the profile of the perfect renter at Alta Union House to be a couple where one works in Framingham or the surrounding area, and one works in Boston and jumps on the train. But what it really provides is suburban-level rent with urban amenities, which is hard to find in Massachusetts: walkability, retail, transit and nightlife.
Q: What’s next in the development pipeline?
A: We’ve completed the development and construction of 11 properties since 2008, representing 2,141 units. We have another two current projects, including Framingham and Walpole, with 354 units, and a forthcoming pipeline of three additional projects for 590 units.
Q: How important is transit to Wood Partners’ site selection?
A: We evaluate each site on its own merits. We’ve been successful in this market doing suburban development but it’s not always transit-oriented. We’ve developed in Malden, Watertown, Arlington, Melrose and Cambridge, but also up and down 495. We have a lot of flexibility where we can go and we’re looking for opportunities in Boston. Our focus is in the neighborhoods, not the downtown core due to land costs. Mid-rise housing in the outer neighborhoods is an opportunity.
Lambert’s Five Favorite New England Beaches:
- Seabrook Beach, New Hampshire
- Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester
- Narragansett Town Beach, Rhode Island
- Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester
- East Beach, Charlestown, Rhode Island
