Needham Housing Authority asks CPC for roughly $9.95 million in CPA funds to preserve Seabeds Way and Captain Robert Cook Drive

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…