NORTHAMPTON — When Alexis Breiteneicher first took a look inside the former nursing home at 737 Bridge Road more than two years ago, she recalled a scene markedly different than what stands there today.
“People had been squatting in here. There were fires, there was trash, there was asbestos in every place there could possibly be asbestos,” Breiteneicher recalled to a crowd of state and city officials and community stakeholders gathered inside the building on Monday. “And now there is not.”
As executive director for the Valley Community Development (Valley CDC), Breiteneicher helped oversee the transformation of the dilapidated 72,000-square-foot property into Prospect Place, the city’s newest affordable housing development featuring 60 units ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom apartments across two stories. Outside, the brick exterior of the building now also includes painted murals by local artists Kim Carlino and Michael Crigler and a playground for future children residing at the property.
Not only is the building meant to provide affordable housing, it’s also designed to run completely on sustainable energy. Prospect Place is powered by a geothermal heat pump, with fluid traveling through 400-foot wells dug underneath used to provide heating and cooling for the all-electric building. A solar array atop the building also helps with mitigating energy costs.
A hallway inside the new Prospect Place housing project in Northampton, including a decorative art piece. Staff Photo/Alexander MacDougall 
An example of an apartment interior inside the new Prospect Place housing project in Northampton. Staff Photo/Alexander MacDougall 
The stairway inside the new Prospect Place housing project in Northampton. Staff Photo/Alexander MacDougall 
The laundry room inside the new Prospect Place housing project in Northampton. Staff Photo/Alexander MacDougall
Overall, the project cost around $30 million to complete, with Valley CDC receiving funding from 19 different stakeholders. Of that funding, around $9.2 million came from state and federal funding, with an additional $1 million from the city of Northampton, according to Breiteneicher. Others contributing funds to the project include the Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) and the MassHousing finance agency.
The need for more affordable housing remains an issue not just for Northampton, but for the state as a whole, as it continues to grapple with a high cost of living and resistance from many communities into building housing developments, experts say. These factors contribute to a shortage of rental properties that keeps prices out of reach for lower-income residents.
Unsurprisingly therefore, several state dignitaries were among those attending Monday’s opening event for Prospect Place, about 15 months after its initial groundbreaking ceremony in August 2024. As with the groundbreaking, the event featured speeches from Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and Massachusetts Housing Secretary Ed Augustus.
“We all know how important it is to ensure safe, efficient, accessible and attainable housing and to remain a welcoming community for anyone who wants to make Northampton their home,” Sciarra said. “And we are dedicated to doing our part to meet our climate goals by providing housing that reduces energy use and transportation demand.”
Augustus praised the city for having the “political will” to make the housing project happen, noting that not everywhere in the commonwealth was as receptive to building housing projects in their own communities.
“Everybody knows we need more housing. They just don’t want it here or anywhere close by. It’s somewhere else that they want the additional housing.” he said. “To the credit of Northampton, you get it … that is something that I would love to replicate in every corner of Massachusetts.”
In an interview with the Gazette, Augustus said that Prospect Place “checks a lot of boxes” when it comes to the state’s plan to address housing issues. He emphasized the importance of people being able to live in the city that they work, and noted that the green design of the building also contributed to the state’s climate goals.
“This was a vacant, blighted building covered with graffiti and boarded up, and it was an eyesore to the neighborhood,” Augustus said. “Now it’s something that’s contributing to the vitality of the neighborhood.”
State Sen. Jo Comerford, speaking at the event, also said Northampton served as a model for other municipalities to address the state’s housing needs.
“Not every community in the commonwealth says yes to housing. Not every community does extraordinary things like funding and zoning changes to make housing happen,” Comerford said. “In Northampton we value here, unlike some other places in the commonwealth, being welcoming, being open, being diverse, being creative, saying yes to newcomers.”
The apartments are in major demand, as Breiteneicher told the audience that Valley CDC had received around 4,600 applications for the 60 units. Under fair housing laws, a lottery system will determine which applicants get to live in the building.
“I’ve talked to other folks who do affordable housing development, and that’s the highest number they’ve seen,” Breiteneicher told the Gazette regarding the number of housing applicants. “Other folks typically see around 2,000 applicants, even for buildings this size … we know we’re in a housing crisis, but this is just an absolute critical need right now.”
Other planned affordable housing projects in the city led by Valley CDC include an eventual 30 apartment units at 27 Crafts Ave. and a planned development at the former Registry of Deeds building at 33 King St.