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Drake Village Cottage Aerial View

Drake Village is a Chapter 667 state public housing development built in the early 1960’s, consisting of 9 two-story brick buildings that contain a total of 72 one-bedroom units for seniors and disabled persons, known as “the Cottages.” The entire complex site totals approximately 4.28 acres, located on Drake Road, a partially public dead-end roadway accessed from Massachusetts Avenue. The larger Drake Village Complex also includes a seven-story high rise building with 144 senior and disabled units known as the Hauser Building, which is not part of this proposed redevelopment. Approximately 2 (two) acres is subject to the RFP and may be subdivided for this project. The units are currently subsidized by state operating and capital Request for Proposals- Drake Village Redevelopment 4 subsidy under a Contract for Financial Assistance (“CFA”) with Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (“EOHLC”).

Drake Village is ideally located close to community amenities and transportation options. Massachusetts Avenue is a main thoroughfare that offers opportunities for shopping, including grocery stores and convenience stores, as well as restaurants and other amenities. A bus stop is located at the intersection of Drake Road and Massachusetts Avenue, serving MBTA bus routes 62, 62/76, and “Lexpress” bus Route C. These routes provide transportation between the Bedford VA hospital and the Alewife rapid transit station, and between the Lexington Community Center and the Arlington Heights commercial area. Adjacent to Drake Village is Hurd Field, a Town of Arlington municipal recreational facility, and the Arlington Reservoir. Public recreational walking paths around the Reservoir can be accessed from Drake Village. Additionally, the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway bike path runs past the site, with access from the parking lot.

Since its initial construction, Drake Village has had limited major capital improvements or renovations. Further, as two-story walk-up buildings with no accessibility, they are severely outdated for the needs of today’s elderly residents and are in significant need of modernization. There are currently no handicapped accessible units in the Cottages. Given these conditions, the AHA believes the best course of action is to pursue demolition and redevelopment of these units while adding density to make the project economically feasible. 

As highlighted by the Town of Arlington's 2022 Housing Production Plan (“HPP”), it is critical that Arlington not only maintain its supply of affordable housing, but also grow the number of affordable housing units available. This project would address numerous needs and goals outlined in the Town of Arlington's HPP. 

As part of the HPP's needs assessment it identified a number of needs that will be directly addressed through this redevelopment. These needs include Arlington having a significant shortage of safe, decent, affordable homes, especially for extremely low- and very low-income renters. Also, that it is due, in part, to an inadequate supply of deeply affordable housing as well as it stemming from an inadequate supply of rental assistance vouchers and not enough resources to maintain public housing. It also indicated that many older adult households in Arlington are housing cost burdened.

This redevelopment would meet goals from the HPP that address these needs such as creating, maintaining, and preserving permanent supportive housing that is affordable, accessible, and available to people with disabilities.

Additional Information and Notifications Concerning Redevelopment