Needham Housing Authority and its development partners presented a preservation and modernization plan for the Seabeds Way and Captain Robert Cook Drive public‑housing properties at the Feb. 5 meeting of the Needham Community Preservation Committee, asking the committee to consider a Community Preservation Act (CPA) request that project staff said currently totals about $9,950,000 for the Seabeds/Cook repositioning effort.

The presentations — led by Betsy Collins of Peabody Properties and Matt Zajac of the Cambridge Housing Authority — described a plan to convert existing federal public‑housing units into project‑based Section 8 units, address long‑standing capital needs and add resiliency and energy upgrades. Matt Zajac, deputy director for planning and development at the Cambridge Housing Authority, said the conversion and redevelopment are intended to provide a “more reliable and more generous stream of income” and to “open up Faircloth authority” to create replacement project‑based vouchers that will help preserve deeply affordable units.

Why it matters: committee members were told the combined preservation and redevelopment work is intended to extend the useful life of the affected buildings by decades and to protect and preserve deeply affordable housing for existing residents. Project presenters said the full modernized scope will increase the upfront capital needs; that change in scope partly explains the rise in the CPA request for Seabeds/Cook compared with earlier figures.

Project scope and costs: presenters said the Seabeds/Cook capital scope includes envelope and roof repairs, upgraded electrical and life‑safety systems, kitchen and interior updates, mechanical and energy‑efficiency work, and measures to increase resilience (emergency power, electrification readiness and potential solar). The project team estimated construction costs for the Seabeds/Cook scope at about $28.5 million and a total development cost in the roughly $40 million range (figures were presented in multiple slides and described by presenters as the current estimate). Presenters said the Linden Terrace redevelopment is a separate project with phase 1A costing about $54 million; together the two efforts were described as leveraging non‑Needham funding against a total Needham CPA ask that earlier in the meeting was characterized as leveraging roughly $17 million in local CPA funds to attract about $77 million of non‑town funding across the two projects.

Housing, vouchers and HUD programs: Zajac explained the technical financing pathway the authority is pursuing. The authority originally pursued the streamlined voluntary conversion (Section 22) pathway but resumed a RAD/Section 18 approach after HUD changed program availability; under the revised approach, Needham expects roughly 90% of converted units to receive the higher tenant‑protection voucher subsidy level but will receive slightly fewer replaceable Faircloth (rebuild/restore) voucher entitlements than originally projected. Zajac said that change increased the project’s upfront capital scope because RAD/Section 18 requires addressing 20 years of capital needs under HUD standards rather than letting some needs be deferred.

Tenant relocation and subsidy details: presenters said the combined Seabeds/Cook portfolio contains 76 federal public‑housing units that are proposed for repositioning. The team said roughly 41 Faircloth (rebuild/restore) vouchers would be freed if the Seabeds portion leaves the public‑housing inventory, and that the Seabeds/Cook repositioning is an essential element to securing the deep subsidy commitments Linden Terrace needs at closing. Betsy Collins, vice president of development at Peabody Properties, described relocation protections: the housing authority has engaged a relocation firm and “all of the residents will be alternate housing will be provided, no additional costs. So whatever they're paying now for rent is what they'll continue to pay,” and those temporarily relocated residents would have return priority once construction is complete.

Funding strategies discussed: presenters outlined three strategies to address the CPA shortfall: 1) a phased approach that would put one half of Seabeds/Cook into construction first (speeding some benefits but increasing total costs and risks of deterioration at the later phase); 2) borrowing against future CPA receipts (bonding) to frontload funds; and 3) a multi‑year conventional grant/commitment approach or soft commitment from the committee to help persuade other lenders. The team said splitting the Seabeds/Cook work into two phases would raise total costs by an estimated $3.8 million and increase the CPA request by roughly $2.9 million compared with building both together.

Timeline and HUD conditioning: presenters said HUD’s formal Faircloth (rebuild/restore) commitment is typically issued at closing, but that HUD does issue earlier indications of approval (for example, a CHAP or other conditional steps in the RAD/Section 18 process) that are useful to lenders and to the Linden Terrace funders. The project team said the earliest optimistic start for construction across both projects would be 2026, subject to state and federal funding rounds and HUD approvals; they warned that missing a funding round could delay both projects and open the work to inflation and higher costs.

Committee response and next steps: CPC members asked for a standalone, fully detailed Seabeds‑only application showing sources and uses, operating assumptions and the subsidy commitments needed by spring (town meeting) to allow Linden Terrace phase 1A to proceed in the anticipated state funding round. Committee members also asked staff to analyze bonding options and to meet with town bond counsel and the finance committee to identify any legal or tax‑exempt debt restrictions. Needham Housing Authority representatives and their consultants said they would amend applications and provide a Seabeds‑only scenario and additional details on timelines and subsidy commitments.

The meeting record: no CPA appropriation vote was requested or taken for Seabeds/Cook; the presentation was informational and the committee asked for a revised application and further financial/structural analysis before any formal vote.

Ending: presenters thanked the committee for past and ongoing support and committed to submit a revised Seabeds application and additional financing detail for the CPC’s review in advance of any requested vote.