National developer Lennar Multifamily Communities is seeking approval to replace a Hyannis golf course with 312 garden-style apartments. Image courtesy of BSB Design
As they grapple with one of the worst housing shortages in the country, one of Cape Cod’s top housing advocates is looking for help from a seemingly unusual source.
Faced with a chronic shortage of apartments and condominiums, Alisa Magnotta, CEO of Housing Assistance Corp. in Hyannis, is encouraging major development companies that can handle large-scale projects to take another look at the bucolic peninsula.
Magnotta’s message is probably as close to heresy as you’ll get on the Cape, which has become increasingly resistant to new development of any kind amid concerns over traffic-clogged roads and contamination of the region’s limited supply of drinking water.
In an encouraging sign, Lennar Multifamily Communities, a housing developer with national reach, is pushing plans for a major apartment complex in Hyannis it’s calling “Emblem.”
But at the end of the day, solving the Cape’s housing crisis comes down to a numbers game, which will require more major developers with projects like Lennar’s.
“We need some of the bigger developers to come in and make an investment,” Magnotta said. “The eight- and 10-unit projects are great, but we need 200, 300 units.”
Wanted: Thousands of Apartments
Cape Cod’s housing crisis has gone from really bad to catastrophic since the pandemic first struck two years ago.
Well-paid professionals, with the ability to work from anywhere, have snapped up homes, pushing the median price well past the $1 million mark in Provincetown and past $900,000 in Orleans, according to numbers from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. Even more humble communities like Sandwich are feeling the pinch with prices up 38 percent since before the pandemic.
By pushing up prices and reducing the number of homes available for rent, that has made it even more difficult for teachers, police officers, restaurant workers, and others to afford a roof over their heads.
After decades of consistently underbuilding, Cape Cod now needs as many as 4,000 new housing units, mostly rental, just to make a dent in demand.
Provincetown officials have approved local developer Patrick Patrick’s Barracks proposal for dormitory-style rooms for 112 seasonal workers and 16 year-round rentals, but residents have sued to overturn the decision. Image courtesy of A3 Architects
But local builders, currently the only ones on the front lines, are limited in what they can do, building 10 units here, 20 there. All told, there are 500 to 800 new rental units in the development pipeline across the Cape right now, Magnotta said, with 150 of them affordable apartments with below market rates.
Given the scale of the need, the Cape needs major developers, with the financing and scale to build hundreds of units at a time, in order to meaningfully close that gap.
Still, to date, the bigger players in the apartment development market have been reluctant to take a shot.
Could Lennar Break the Dam?
Building anything on the bucolic peninsula is incredibly difficult, with NIMBY homeowners, probably more than a few with time to spare in their gilded retirements, prepared to run pretty much anyone out of town who has the gall to propose new housing,
There is also a complicated review process, with developers not only have to win over local officials, but also the Cape Cod Commission.
“It can be very discouraging for a developer,” Magnotta said. “It really takes someone who is willing to stick out,”
That reluctance could change, though, should Lennar succeed in its plants to build its proposed 312-unit apartment complex on a former golf course.
Ten to 15 percent of the units will be affordable, with market-rate two-bedrooms in the $1,800- to $2,000-a-month range, she said.
But that’s not a sure bet. Ornery neighbors, having defeated plans for a performing arts center on the site, are now turning their attention to the Lennar proposal.
The logic behind the opposition is not clear – after all, a golf course is a much more water-intensive and fertilizer-heavy use, with water conservation and pollution a major concern on the Cape.
There are also proposals in Provincetown and Orleans to build dorm-like projects to house summer workers, but at least in Orleans, the proposal is still in the conceptual stage, with no site chosen yet.
“We have to be good stewards of this beautiful place, but on the other hand, we have to have enough housing so our schools can function, and our businesses can open, Magnotta said.
Scott Van Voorhis
Crisis Won’t Wait
Meanwhile, Cape Cod’s housing crisis is steadily morphing into a major drain on the region’s businesses and economy.
There are increasingly not enough workers to meet the needs of year-round residents, let alone keep the doors open of local restaurants and other businesses during the crucial summer tourism season.
Lines of hungry customers waiting to get into restaurants running at half-capacity because of a shortage of waiters, cooks, you name it, was a common scene last summer.
“About the Cape in general, we are very concerned about the ability of our seasonal businesses to house their seasonal employees,” Magnotta said.
Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.
