Cable Mills plan gets $1.7M boost

North Adams Transcript | March 15, 2006
By Karen Gardner

WILLIAMSTOWN -

The affordable housing component of the Cable Mills housing development project got a boost this week as it will receive more than $1.7 million in federal and state funds.

The money will serve to subsidize about 21 - or 25 percent - of the approximately 85 one- to three-bedroom housing units. The affordable units will be sold to first-time home buyers of moderate income, said James Canavan, interim executive director of the Berkshire Housing Development Corp.

"It's very good news," Canavan said. "It helps us drive down the cost of the units, but it's also validation of very smart people in Boston at the state level who see this as a worthwhile project and recognize the need for this kind of housing in Berkshire County."

The project was awarded $715,000 in federal funds from the Department of Housing and Community Development HOME program and $1 million from the state's Affordable Housing Trust fund.

Reasonable prices

Had the grant money not been awarded, Canavan said it would have been difficult to offer the affordable units for reasonable prices. The rest of the residences will be offered at market rate.

"There will be a wide disparity in the selling price of these units," he said.

"This area needs more housing," said state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams in a prepared statement. "The plans for these old mill buildings look great. These buildings will be turned into a vibrant housing community only minutes from the downtown."

The Cable Mills site on Water Street once housed the former General Cable Co., which manufactured electric cable. The project will consist of the reconstruction of the mills and the construction of new housing units.

Portions of the General Cable mill complex were built in 1880 and occupied until operation ended in the late 1990s. Some of the buildings are in poor condition and will be razed to allow for the remaining historic buildings to be renovated into new housing.

The project is a joint venture of Keen Development and Berkshire Housing corporations. Canavan is serving as the housing corporation's interim executive director until a new one is found. The former executive director, Peter Lafayette, left the position to become executive director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation and the Greater Berkshire Foundation.