Waverly Woods in Belmont, Massachusetts

Designed by Mostue & Associates Architects (Somerville MA) with project team members Affirmative Investments (developer, Boston), DeVellis Zrein (civil engineer, Foxborough, MA), Dan Bonardi Consulting Engineers (structural engineer, Somerville, MA), Wozny/Barbar & Associates (M/E/P/FP engineers, Hanover, MA) and Erland Construction (contractor, Burlington, MA)

These 40 units of newly constructed affordable rental housing offer an appealing response to a very difficult site. In exchange for the right to redevelop the massive former MacLean Hospital site into luxury townhouses, an assisted-living community and a research/development facility, a tiny corner of the site was set aside for the construction of affordable housing. Despite the site’s severe slope, ledge outcroppings, scraggly tree growth and heavy traffic on one edge, it has been magically transformed by a solid plan. The housing now fits in so well that it looks like it was easy to develop—while offering pedestrian access to Waverly Square, Belmont’s only multimodal transportation node. The development’s architecture is sensitive to the scale of neighboring properties and features facades that are detailed at a level comparable to some of the town’s finest homes. Kudos to this project for sending a strong message about the importance of locating housing near transit and town centers and for demonstrating how overlooked surplus land can create opportunities for affordable housing that otherwise wouldn’t exist.