Image courtesy of Colliers

Properties in Weston, Newton and Amherst with potential for housing and mixed-use development are being offered by local colleges.

Regis College is selling off a 62-acre parcel across from its campus on Wellesley Street in Weston, while University of Massachusetts officials are seeking proposals to modernize campus housing at the Amherst campus and parts of the former Mt. Ida College campus in Newton, which the school bought in 2018.

The Boston office of brokerage Colliers represents Regis College on the sale of its Weston site, one of the largest undeveloped parcels remaining in the town.

The Wellesley Street property is suitable for a variety of development opportunities, Colliers Vice Chair James Elcock said. A marketing brochure includes a conceptual plan for an 18-lot single-family subdivision, and a cottage-style continuing care community including 28 cottage-style homes.

Regis College plans to use the proceeds from the property sale to renovate and expand the school’s science building, modernize nursing and science laboratories, expand study spaces and add classrooms, spokesman Michael Guilfoyle said in an email.

The University of Massachusetts Building Authority is seeking proposals to modernize campus housing in Amherst, through a marketing process overseen by brokerage Newmark.

The authority seeks “responsible and creative mixed-use plans” to renovate or expand the Amherst campus dorms, according to an announcement this week. The offering also includes a potential mixed-use development including student housing and retail space on the 1,463-acre Amherst campus.

The school is offering the “primary area of opportunity is on the Amherst campus, with potential partnership options on the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton,” according to the announcement.

UMass officials said development on approximately 16 acres could include housing for recent graduates or older adults, Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller stated in a community newsletter today.

Because the land is owned by the state, Newton officials have limited control over development, Fuller stated.

“This might be a very big deal for this section of Newton, and we’ll want to be right on top of any potential changes,” Fuller wrote in the newsletter.

The public-private partnership is modeled on recent projects at University of Massachusetts campuses designed to maximize the value of campus real estate and limit additional debt burdens on the colleges, according to the building authority.

The announcement did not mention specifics of opportunities at the 66-acre Mount Ida campus in Newton, acquired by the University of Massachusetts in 2018, and a spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. However, a map posted on a UMass website advertising the redevelopment opportunity highlighted around 25 acres of the campus as “eligible for redevelopment.”

The university describes its Mt. Ida campus as “a center for experiential learning and professional development that enables UMass Amherst students to gain hands-on practical experience living and working near Boston.”

The proposal is the latest by the UMass Building Authority to generate revenues by offering real estate at the state college campuses to private developers.

In 2022, the agency selected GHM Communities of Newton, Pennsylvania to redevelop a 10-acre section of the UMass Lowell East campus with a research building and new student residence halls.

In March, officials unveiled plans for an $800 million development including a 300,000-square-foot research building, 80 percent of which will be leased to private companies including Draper Laboratories.

Subsequent phases will include 500 private housing units and a 461-bed dormitory.

And in 2022, the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance offered portions of the Salem State University campus to developers for multifamily housing. The state real estate agency selected Boston-based WinnCompanies and Avalon Bay Communities, an apartment REIT headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, to develop market-rate and affordable housing and rehabilitate existing buildings on a 23-acre site.

Editor’s note: This report has been updated with a statement by Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.

An aerial photo of the UMass Mount Ida campus showing large swaths marked as “eligible for redevelopment.” Image courtesy of the University of Massachusetts