WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Three years after it received the final permitting, the third and final phase of the Cable Mills housing complex is on track to break ground later this year.

 

"The construction fence just went up and we are scheduled to start before the end of the year," developer David Traggorth of Causeway Development said last week.

 

When completed, the planned four-story, 54-unit apartment complex will bring to an end a multi-year project that began at the turn of the 21st century and started with the renovation of a 19th-century factory.

 

The renovation of the historic mill building to create 61 apartments was Phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 involved building townhouses along the Green River.

 

Phase 3 also involves new construction but, unlike the first two phases, the plan is to keep the remaining 54 units full-time rentals instead of marketing them as condos.

 

And, unlike Phase 1, where 13 of the 61 units are designated as income-restricted affordable housing, no fewer than half of the units in Phase 3 will be affordable.

 

No fewer than eight of the units in Phase 3 will be affordable to residents making up to 30 percent of the area median income. At least 19 will be designated affordable to residents making up to 60 percent of the AMI.

 

Those were the terms of a 2022 town meeting vote to allocate $400,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to support Phase 3.

 

Because of the affordable component to the planned Phase 3 "River Lofts" apartments, much of the project's funding comes from state sources; the $400,000 grant of town CPA funds represents the kind of local match that state agencies like to see before awarding funding.

 

Groundbreaking on Phase 3 has been delayed by at least a year because spiraling construction costs that forced Causeway Development to seek additional state funding and, ultimately, an $80,000 grant from the town's Affordable Housing Trust to match.

 

In April, Traggorth told the AHT board that the $80,000 in additional local contribution could be used to leverage and additional $5.4 million toward the project.

 

Last week, he indicated that strategy was successful.

 

"Yes we're finalizing our construction pricing and obtained the extra funds from the state," Traggorth wrote in an email replying to a request for an update.

 

Williamstown Community Development Director Andrew Groff confirmed on Monday morning that the existing permitting for the new apartment building are still valid, meaning Causeway will not have to go back before the Zoning Board of Appeals or the Conservation Commission, which each last considered the project in May 2021.

 

When Phase 3 is completed, the 27 new affordable units will be added to the more than 100 units of income-restricted housing the town has added in the last 15 years: 42 units at 330 Cole Ave., 40 age-restricted units at Highland Woods, 13 units at Cable Mills Phase 1, eight units at the former St. Raphael Church and rectory and two single-family homes built by Habitat for Humanity at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street.