The first affordable housing project ever built in Woods Hole is taking applications for its lottery until July 15. The drawing of names will be at Falmouth Town Hall on July 24.
There are 11 apartments at the property at 300 Woods Hole Road, both one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. The income guidelines are based on the median income in Barnstable County and vary depending on the size of the family.
For example, a family of two can earn no more than $42,000 a year to qualify for most of the units.
The project almost didn’t happen at all. Its champion, Bob Murray, was on his deathbed in 2013 when he called Linda Clark of Falmouth Housing Corporation and David Ennis and Tara Mizrahi of Affirmative Investments, Inc. He asked them to promise to finish the Woods Hole housing project after he was gone.
“And we kind of all looked at each other because we didn’t know much about it, Linda told WCAI. “And he said, ‘No -- would you promise me?’ And we said yes. We all had tears in our eyes when Bob said, ‘I just want that project to happen.’”
Permits had to be renewed, deadlines had to be extended, and funding had to be nailed down. With a construction loan from Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank and help from Massachusetts Housing Partnership among many others, the project finally got started.
Construction is nearly finished and residents are expected to move in September 1. It’s named Notantico Woods after the Indian Chief who once owned the land.
In the meantime, a seven-day fundraising walk across Cape Cod is now named in honor of Bob Murray. The walk was another one of Murray’s pet projects and it lives on without him. It kicks off Monday in Provincetown.
