2 weeks Ago
It’s an unusual concept for a housing development: Mix 300 high-end luxury condominiums with 100 Chapter 40B “affordable” units, all while charging enough in monthly condo fees to support the existing lavish amenities on the sprawling estate of the late billionaire Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II in Leverett and north Amherst. First, it’s hard to see how the finances would work.
According to Josh Wallack, the Florida-based nightclub developer hired to sell the project as the Kittredge family’s gift to the Massachusetts housing crisis, costs to support the currently vacant, overbuilt playground estate equal more than $1.5 million annually . We can conservatively estimate that future fees to maintain the 20,000-square-foot mansion, indoor water park — claimed by a Kittredge representative in 2018 to be “costly,” “outmoded,” and “inefficient” — modest outdoor pool, 9-hole golf course, antique car barns, etc.
, will be at least $3 million per year, not including costs to upgrade facilities for heavier usage. Here’s the math: a purported $200 million development . One-quarter of the 400 units to be designated as “affordable.
” For simplicity’s sake, let’s consider the most expensive example on the state 40B website : a $66,150 maximum annual income, which roughly matches Leverett’s “affordable” income requirements for either one or two people (the current proposal calls for elderly housing). This person or persons would be able to afford a $190,000 condo in the proposed Pioneer Pointe, assuming, in the example, a modest $170 monthly condo fee. Or, alternatively, a much cheaper unit like the ”micro-units” Mr.
Wallack spoke of in a public meeting last year, and a much heftier condo fee. That leaves $180,000,000 in construction costs divided by the remaining 300 units: an average of $600,000 each; some more, some less. Subtracting the low-end $204,000 condo fees for the affordable units from the $3 million estate upkeep cost leaves a $9,320 average annual condo fee for the remaining units.
Just to support the existing amenities, before adding in usual condo fee costs, such as maintenance and repair for the residential units themselves. I don’t know about you, but if I had an additional $9,000 per year to spend to hang out now and then in a dead billionaire’s mansion and use his three-lane bowling alley, four tennis courts, and obsolete indoor water park, I might ..
. do almost anything else. Just sayin’.
Plus, I am not sure Massachusetts is in desperate need of more high-end housing. Article continues after..
. Cross|Word Flipart Typeshift SpellTower Really Bad Chess Then there is Mr. Kittredge’s challenging legacy in town; specifically, his endless quest to pay the tiniest conceivable amount in property taxes.
It was a pastime that led to a three-foot file box in the assessors’ office devoted to his frequent attempts to save himself a few bucks while shifting his tax burden to the rest of Leverett’s residents. It’s an interesting study in self-interest vs. community good.
In his 2019 petition to the state’s Appellate Tax Board, Mr. Kittredge’s appraiser claimed the estate should be valued at a modest $1.8 million.
(Leverett’s assessment: $9.9 million.) Fair enough; we are talking resale value here, not just the cost — which Kittredge’s son says was $50 million — of building out one’s personal fantasyland.
A mere six years later the estate is on the market for $14.9 million, down from $23 million. That is, if it doesn’t end up in a massive housing development instead.
Mr. Kittredge won that tax appeal, again costing Leverett thousands in appraisal and legal fees and dropping his taxes $69,000 per year. Having seemingly inherited the tax-minimalist itch, his heir, Michael J.
“Mick” Kittredge III, seems committed to carrying on his father’s un-neighborliness with yet another abatement petition at the Appellate Tax Board, to be adjudicated in 2025. I guess we all need our hobbies. But small wonder that Leverett residents are suspicious of the family’s intentions.
The elder Kittredge did seed a million here or there into projects that bear his name: a new surgery center at Cooley Dickinson, a business center at Holyoke Community College, gifts to his kids’ private schools. Those who knew him personally speak kindly of him. But his community spirit did not extend to the town that gave him pristine country land, lightning-fast municipal fiber internet, good roads, and prompt and professional EMS services when needed.
Affordable housing in Leverett: absolutely. Market-rate housing: sure. But luxury condos with sky-high condo fees and an owner’s history of tax-avoidance? Hmmm .
.. Instead: Sell the mansion, tear down the ridiculous water park, and build a smaller, small-town-size development with affordable and market-rate units.
And maybe give the tax-abatement thing a rest. Nancy E. Grossman lives in Leverett and is chairwoman of the town’s Finance Committee.
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