Construction begins on long-anticipated senior housing in Franklin

After a decade of hurdles, an affordable senior housing project in Franklin has reached a major milestone, thanks to a partnership among local, state and congressional leaders dedicated to producing more housing in the area.

In March, construction began on Franklin Ridge, a 60-apartment development aimed at allowing local seniors (age 62 and older) to downsize from larger homes and remain in town affordably, while freeing up housing for younger families seeking to call Franklin home.

Over the past 11 years, the project has overcome a series of “curve balls,” including the COVID pandemic, financing challenges, inflation, and rising costs triggered by tariffs, said Franklin Town Administrator Jamie Hellen. Partnering with a local affordable housing developer, JNJUHL and Associates, the town hopes that the apartments will be finished by late 2027.

“For people in Franklin, this has been a huge priority,” Hellen said. “This isn’t something the town government is saying we need to do — although we do support that message — but I think politically, we’ve heard it loud and clear from a lot of residents that they don’t want to move to a community further west, or even Florida, or whatever. They want to be close to where their kids and their grandkids are going to be.”

Located on 6.5 acres near shops and town amenities, the three-story complex will have 54 one-bedroom rental apartments, and six two-bedroom units. The development will include community spaces and an on-site social services coordinator, and will be 100% electric-powered and feature solar panels.

The apartments will be available to income-eligible residents — at 60% or below of the area median income. The rents will be calculated based on the renters’ income and the federal limits, developer Jon Juhl said. There will also be a 70% preference for local residents, the highest percentage allowed under state law.

The project received significant town buy-in over the past decade. The Franklin Municipal Affordable Housing Trust provided the land for the project, which also received $500,000 in seed money from the town and another $360,000 in Community Preservation Act funds. The project also received state and federal funding, including an $850,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and funding through the MassWorks Infrastructure Program.

Still, for every win the project achieved, it encountered another new challenge amid political and economic uncertainty, including the need to spend down federal appropriations before the White House could retract the funds, Hellen said.

Hellen said he worked to keep the name Franklin Ridge in people’s minds, relying on personal relationships, bringing advocacy letters to state officials at events, and regularly checking in with legislators, state housing officials, and congressional staffs about the project.

“I make jokes locally that all of our legislative delegation almost didn’t really remember my name,” he said. “They were just like, ‘This is the Franklin Ridge guy.’ And as fate would have it, the connections made a difference.”

In 2024, the state awarded an additional $8.5 million, including $2.5 million from the Low Income Federal Tax Credit program, and $6 million from other state Housing and Livable Communities subsidies. That money gave the project the leverage it needed to secure the remaining bank financing and put it on more secure ground, Hellen said. By that point, the $30 million project had received about $13 million in public funding, not counting Franklin’s staff time, permitting efforts or the land donation.

“A hundred different times in the last seven or eight years, I thought this thing was on death’s door, and I thought, ‘You know, I was in the death trap like Indiana Jones,’” Hellen said. “But yet, over and over, everybody who’s been affiliated with this, from the federal and state and local level, have pulled through.”