Revised plan offered for Addison-Wesley site
Reading officials are considering a revised plan to rebuild the abandoned Addison-Wesley office park site that would provide more than 350 new homes, many of which would count toward the town's state-mandated affordable-housing goal.
But, despite concessions from the developer, the proposal remains controversial among Reading residents, many of whom fear housing will bring more children to an overburdened school system and increase traffic.
The 22-acre parcel, between Route 128 and South Street, currently has six office buildings. National Development, a Newton-based real estate company, wants to turn the property into a community with 16 town houses, 140 senior housing units, 199 rental apartments, and 160,000 square feet of office space.
The idea is to situate the homes around a town green and have walking paths around the site, said Ted Tye, a managing partner at the company.
"What we're really doing is creating a village," Tye said, noting that his company already scaled back its March proposal, which contained 390 housing units and 220,000 square feet of office space.
Much of the site is zoned for office and hotel space, and would require rezoning by Town Meeting for apartments and town houses.
The Board of Selectmen has not taken an official position, but there appears to be support for the proposal. An informal poll of the board found that all five selectmen are in favor of the plan, but they are waiting for additional information on the development's tax implications before they endorse it formally, said Bob LeLacheur, assistant town manager.
"The total size of the project and amount of traffic has been substantially reduced from previous proposals, so that's a big plus," LeLacheur said. "It would also take a good chunk out of our affordable-housing needs for the future."
Several residents have voiced concerns that the project will increase traffic congestion. But National Development officials say they hope to alleviate some of the concern by enlarging the intersection at Main and South streets to include a left-turn lane into the site and adding a stoplight at the Route 128 ramp onto Main Street.
Because the development would be mostly residential, with about one-quarter of the land dedicated to office space, the developer contends that the traffic should be spread out throughout the day.
"You don't get that huge crush of people entering in the morning," said Scott Weiss, vice president of development for National Development. "It's more of a balance."
However, some residents remain unconvinced that even the scaled-back design would prevent a substantial increase in traffic.
"South Main Street is already overly developed, and there's another large [project] going on right now," said Rosemarie DeBenedetto, referring to Reading Crossing, just up the road. "The Addison-Wesley site only has one entrance and exit. That's going to back up traffic even further."
Other residents say the additional homes might bring more children into the town than the school system can handle. Though National Development estimates the project would add 12 to 18 children from kindergarten to high-school age, residents and school officials said they are still worried that even a slight increase could raise class sizes.
National Development has yet to do a full analysis of what the project will mean for Reading's tax base, but Tye described the proposal as a "net positive" for the town. The project would help Reading meet its affordable-housing quota because 20 percent of the apartments would be priced below market value. Because such a large number of units would be affordable, the entire complex of 199 apartments would be included in the tally, thus pushing the town over the 10 percent threshold, according to Tye.
With the affordable-housing units come state financial aid, said Tye, adding that the town stands to gain nearly $800,000 in incentive pay for rezoning and granting permits for low-income homes.
