Updated August 29
The nonprofit Island Housing Trust’s largest affordable housing project to date took another step toward fruition.
Meshacket Commons, an affordable housing project in Edgartown off Meshacket Road, with 40 units planned, started construction this week.
Breeze Tonneson, Island Housing Trust communications director, said construction is expected to take 15 months, with the hope of receiving a certificate of occupancy in November 2025.
The new target date is six months later than originally projected. Developers had hoped to be wrapped up by next spring.
The nonprofit first received approval for Meshacket Commons from the Edgartown select board in 2021.
Philippe Jordi, Island Housing Trust CEO, told the Times the project consists of 36 rental units and four homeownership units. The $34 million project is double the size of Island Housing Trust’s 20-unit duplex community, Kuehn’s Way, in Tisbury, which in 2022 was believed to be one of the largest affordable housing projects on the Island in 15 years.
Jordi said amassing the funds from various sources — federal low-income housing tax credits, state bonds, Community Preservation Act funding, and donations — for such a large project was time-consuming, to which he attributed to the later construction start date. “We have been working diligently,” he said.
Island Housing Trust also cleared steps with the Edgartown select board to close the project with MassHousing by Wednesday, which was originally planned to happen last month.
The Edgartown select board unanimously approved signing documents, totaling several hundred pages, for the Meshacket Commons project during a Monday evening meeting. These included the ground lease and a Community Preservation Act affordable housing restriction.
Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty said the agreements with the project developers, Island Housing Trust, and Affirmative Investments, the firm helping to fund the project, were a “long time in the making.”
“It’s been reviewed multiple times by [town] counsel, red-penned,” Hagerty said. “It’s in the best interest of the town.”
The board felt no need to go over the minutiae of the documents. “I think this has been worked on long enough, and I’m willing to just vote on Meshacket Commons as listed,” board member Margaret Serpa said.
Island Housing Trust is planning to hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 3:30 pm.
Meanwhile, Edgartown is pushing forward in its search for a new police chief. The Edgartown select board unanimously approved a $12,250 contract with Public Safety Consultants during the Monday meeting. The firm had been previously hired to assess Oak Bluffs Police chief candidates in 2022.
Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee announced last month he will be retiring by the end of September.
The story has been updated with corrections from Island Housing Trust regarding the Meshacket Commons project cost and target date.
Very sad to have the wooded area demolished and more housing, causing more congestion in an already overly congested area. Very disturbing…
Wait until you see what they are trying to do at the triangle. Now that area is really congested and the people in power do not care and are trying to force it on us with a 40B application. It is all about making money and pretending it is for low income people. The group behind that project are some of the most greedy owners on the island.
What was demolished for your place?
Maybe we should leave the wooded area and designate it as a “tent area” so poor people have a place to sleep?
Another great housing project with no new tax on real estate that takes money away from home owners who count on it to live with.
What ideas do you have for keeping housing affordable? Since unaffordable housing is happening everywhere, a special tax is NOT the answer.
What is the answer?
There’ll never be enough housing or space and the more that’s created will just invite more people to move to the island. More people moving here, congestion, traffic, accidents, noise and chaos will ensue. There is just so much space on a small island! Not everyone can live here (or any small island) or it will change the small town character of the island. Stop advertising and encouraging folks here! Probably too late. Super sad and sickening..
I am 110% with you
The Island will hit an balance point when the disgruntled leave.
The newbies think it is wonderful.
J. and Robert, so it’s okay for you to be here. Why is it sickening for other people to be here?
What kind of people should we exclude?
How and when can you apply for the low income housing that’s being built in edgartown. Thank you
Almost a million dollars a unit to build
I guess they’re using the California definition of “affordable “
In many Massachusetts towns a million dollars is affordable.
Chilmark is an example.
John, as long as we allow Wall Street to own family homes, housing will not be affordable. We must change the law so that only individual families can buy homes.
We need more affordable housing on the Island, and I’m delighted this project is moving forward.
We need more housing–and the Housing Bank will help us get there.
Daniel, when are we going to restrict Wall Street from buying family homes? Until we do that, prices will continue to rise. Wall Street has unlimited deep pockets and few families can compete.
Also, when we allow short-term rentals, we change the market in a way where poorer families can never buy their way in.
I agree with my cousin Bob Murphy this group is all about the bottom line and lining their pockets.
Tom, so you think a new tax is going to help the average person find a home? A new tax will only make it harder for people to buy a home. 🏡
Affordable housing initiatives are like a drug for the Affordable Housing Industry. A lot of people make a lot of money off these “do good” projects. These aren’t island folks getting paid to build these projects. These are large off island corporations who, if allowed, would build these projects until there is no more land to build. When is enough affordable housing enough? The need will never be satisfied. When will concede that some people just will never to able to afford to live here but they sure can make a ton more money if they commute from off island. And please don’t give me the the “but we’ll lose our sense of community ” nonsense. The island’s population is continually growing. Chilmark school is overflowing with young kids for example. Spare me that nonsense.
When Federal grant money is involved, the process of selecting the occupants is done Federally. That means anyone anywhere Federally, who qualifies income wise, can apply. It is quite simple, and it is the law. Thank you, Tom Engley and Bob Murphy. Surely the overall sentiment of these comments, is that we want the same things. There is a Mass. General Law, in Chapter 52, which would allow our assessors to tax commercially used properties in a residential zone differently. This is not the rooms tax. The tax would apply to those homes not lived in year-round by the owner or tenant. If our assessors were authorized to use this law it would help us. It is also the law, and being ignored.
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