FRAMINGHAM—This town has a little bit of everything: main thoroughfares and quiet lanes, mega-shopping destinations, and quintessential downtown small businesses.
"If you need it, it is in Framingham," said town manager Julian M. Suso.
Large enough and diverse enough to be considered a city, Framingham straddles the Mass. Pike and Route 9 and is the transit hub for the Metrowest area. It has hosted classic suburban shopping malls for more than 50 years and was the site of one of the first enclosed malls, the now-demolished Shoppers World. There are still working dairy farms in corners of the town and it is also the home of MetroWest Medical Center, Framingham State College, State Police headquarters, and several large corporations.
"It's a unique combination of rural, urban, and suburban," Suso said of the town, which was incorporated in 1700.
Suso said town finances are in good shape and no Proposition 2 1/2 override is in the immediate future. Capital spending is on upgrades to municipal buildings, not new construction, he said. He also states that the town's school system is of high quality.
There is a solid supply of athletic fields and parks scattered around the town, which also offers summertime fun at Lake Cochituate. Other greenspace includes Callahan State Park.
On a recent week, Realtor.com listed 256 single-family homes, ranging from $134,900 for a three-bed, one-bath, 1,063-square-foot home to $1.5 million for a five-bed, 5.5-bath, 6,019-square-foot home on four acres. Median price of a single-family home in January was $315,900, according to Warren Group, which publishes real estate information.
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