Boston-based developer Beacon Communities is proposing a 72-unit all-affordable apartment complex at 1314 Washington St. in West Newton, across from the Newton Police Headquarters where the Santander Bank used to be.

Currently, there’s a dance studio in that location and a parking lot in back that the police use.

Once completed, the development would have 72 apartments priced for people who earn below the area median income. This is often called “workforce housing” because it’s priced for teachers, nurses, city employees, retail workers and others who typically can’t afford Newton’s high market-rate rents.

There has been pushback from neighbors, Newton Affordable Housing Trust Chair Ann Houston said in a statement announcing the plan, and some are calling on the City Council to refuse funding for the Trust. But Houston maintains that the proposal has been vetted.

“The project has been thoroughly reviewed to ensure that it is financially sound, responsibly developed and managed, and aligned with community goals,” Houston said. “Our funding commitment is also essential to securing state housing resources, leveraging approximately $9 in state funding for every $1 of local investment.”

Although City Council approval isn’t needed for a by-right development, Houston is urging supporters of the proposal to email the City Council and voice that support. because there is a call by neighbors to refuse city funding for it.

The numbers

The estimated cost of the project is $62.5 million.

Exact numbers aren’t yet available, but it’s estimated the Newton Affordable Housing Trust would pay around $4 million of that.

The lot is about 8,000 square feet.

The development would have about 1,900 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

Units would be priced at 30 percent, 60 percent and 80 percent of area median income, which is about $72,000 for a single-person household and $103,000 for a four-person household.

There would be four studio apartments, 19 one-bedroom apartments, 41 two-bedroom apartments and eight three-bedroom apartments.

The complex would have 23 on-site parking spaces, which only covers about one-third of the units. Those who don’t get a parking space will have to park on the street or in an off-site garage.

There’s a 72-unit apartment complex proposed for the lot at 1314 Washington St. in West Newton with rents priced below market rate. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

VCOD and a new West Newton

The proposed development would be zoned VC2 and VC3 as part of the Village Center Overlay District, meaning it can have more height by right than before the VCOD was passed in 2023.

On the battle-heavy road to getting the VCOD passed in 2023, one thing unified the advocates and the detractors: the desire for affordable housing in Newton. Those promoting the VCOD said more inventory would mean less demand and therefore lower rents. Opponents argued that adding thousands of high-end apartments that average workers can’t afford would make the city’s housing disparity worse.

An all-affordable housing complex brings both sides of the affordable housing debate together. A couple of years ago, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced that the Newton Affordable Housing Trust was partnering with WinnCompanies Residential to transform the 117-unit Newton Gardens complex in Nonantum to all-affordable, meaning all units would be priced for incomes below the area median.

The West Newton Armory has also been converted into more than 30 units of affordable housing. If the Beacon Communities proposal makes it to completion, there will be 72 more nearby.

West Newton is going through a bit of a transformation. The West Newton Armory, for starters, is accompanied by a massive apartment complex, Newton Crossing (formerly known as Dunstan East). There’s even been a redesign of Washington Street in that village, although Mayor Marc Laredo has said he’s going to redesign that redesign, after so many drivers complained about it. And the Newton Police Department is moving, likely to a nearby lot where a bigger headquarters will be built.

A new West Newton is coming, and housing advocates want affordable housing to be a major part of that new ecosystem.

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