COMMUNITY SNAPSHOT
Ayer

Boston Globe, 5/30/2004

MORE Main Street in Ayer. 27 Pearl St., Ayer - $279,900 (Globe photos) More: Miles from Boston: 35 Population: 7,287 Median house price: $245,000 (April) Tax rate: $10.04 per thousand Transportation: MBTA commuter rail service to North Station (about 60 minutes) Best things: Lack of traffic congestion, MBTA service Worst things: distance from Boston MCAS: Ayer ranked 104 among 210 school districts statewide, trailing Harvard (3) and Groton-Dunstable (15), according to a Globe analysis. In English, 49 percent of 10th-graders scored proficient; 34 percent scored proficient in math. Census facts: 79 percent of residents drive to work alone, 9 percent use a car pool, 4 percent take public transportation, and 2 percent work at home. Median income is $46,619, vs. state median of $50,502. Snapshot archive More community information RESOURCES For Sale: Homes | Condos | Open Houses For Rent: Apartments | Houses | Roommates Vacation rentals Place an ad: On Boston.com | In the Globe Commercial: Search listings for sale or rent

AYER -- In the past few years, Daniel M. Loring has done pretty well for himself, so much so that the president of Apple Country Realty Inc. could move with his family to a town of his choosing, since housing prices would not be a barrier.

Yet Loring lives in a town that natives like him say does not get the respect it deserves.

"I love Ayer," said Loring, who started his firm seven years ago. Today, it has seven offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. "It's a great town."

Taxes are low for Ayer's 7,300 residents. The town is near Route 2, Interstate 495, and the New Hampshire border, and it has an MBTA commuter rail stop. It has its own community hospital, Nashoba Valley Medical Center, and is sandwiched between two tonier communities, Groton and Harvard. Shirley, its immediate neighbor, provides similar housing and economic environment and sends it high school students to Ayer.

"It used to be an industrial town and it still has that industrial feel," Loring said. The town, incorporated in 1871, was named after a Lowell doctor who donated money to build Town Hall, which has recently undergone an award-winning renovation. "But it is still a nice small community, even though it's gone through a big transformation."

That transformation for Ayer -- and for its neighbors -- was the closing in 1995 of Fort Devens, which many predicted would devastate the region, said Shaun A. Suhoski, director of the Office of Community and Economic Development.

But thanks to a joint effort by Ayer, Shirley and Harvard, and $200 million in state bonding authority, what was once an Army base is now a neighborhood known as Devens. Its homes, light industry, and a medical center for federal prisoners have fended off economic disaster for the towns, Suhoski said.

A recent study by his office shows the hospital and a nursing home were the town's largest employers, followed by about 10 bottling, packaging, and distribution companies or subsidiaries.

Last week, 17 single-family homes were listed on Realtor.com, ranging in price from $247,000 for a three-bedroom 1-bath home to a $489,900 for a three-bedroom, 2-bath home in Devens. Sales are brisk, Loring said, if the property is priced right. Loring said he is listing a four-bedroom, 2-bathroom home under construction on a one-acre lot for $429,900. He estimated a similar home would cost $100,000 more in a neighboring town. Housing costs have risen since Devens became a neighborhood, Loring said, but "It's still a bargain." He added that his experience has shown Ayer and Shirley are as far from Boston as most commuters will travel.

Loring said he does run into some resistance with potential buyers when the town's MCAS rankings are discussed. Ayer is a school choice community, one of the largest in the state, and draws its high school students from Shirley and other neighboring towns.

JOHN ELLEMENT

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