Village at Grafton Woods will soon take shape at 8 Pine Street

It’s going to have 317 units in a 325,190 square-foot four-story building and a 11,340 square foot footprint, two-story retail village. 

There will be a five-story parking deck for residents and an elevated parking deck and lower level surface lot — enough to take care of overflow parking from the Grafton commuter rail station across the street.

The Village at Grafton Woods at 8 Pine Street, a transit-oriented, mixed-use development, came before the Planning Board Monday night, one of its first hurdles in a project that’s been touted as a game-changer for Grafton.

“This has been a year in the making,” said Matt Welter, vice president of development of the O’Donnell Development Group, which is working with developer GSX Ventures on the project.

Back in August 2019, Grafton entered a sales partnership with the state, which was selling off small parcels of land for development. With a key location beside the commuter rail station, down the street from Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, and just off Rte. 30, it was a perfect location to develop apartment housing with a retail component.

In June 2020, the Select Board awarded the 8-acre property, formerly part of Grafton State Hospital, to GSX for $1,725,000.

Demolition of three crumbling buildings is expected possibly by May, with construction slated to start in October.

Twenty-five percent of the housing units, or a total of 79 units, will be restricted as affordable housing for income-eligible tenants. Housing units will include 50 studio units, 151 one-bedroom units and 115 two-bedroom units.

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