Condo News Highlights

The Bay State, the birthplace of gay marriage, is on the cusp of another revolution in alternative living that could prove to be just as controversial - gay condo communities.

 

Developers across the country are drawing up plans for condo projects - and sometimes even whole communities - targeted at gay and lesbian buyers. And Massachusetts is proving to be a fertile laboratory for this experiment.

Two planned developments on either end of the state, the Stonewall at Audubon Circle in the Fenway and Paradise One in Easthampton, are pioneering condo complexes marketed to older gay and lesbian residents.

 

There is talk that a few developers might even move beyond the graying gay population to roll out condo projects aimed at gays of all ages.

But some critics, like state Rep. Brian Wallace (D-South Boston), are fuming over what they see as a new double standard.

"We try and get people in Southie into these (elderly) condos and we get croaked," Wallace said. "They won't just let us do South Boston residents."

"You can do this for one group, and not another?" asked an incredulous Wallace. "It's pushing the envelope to a drastic point."

Wallace said Southie has tried time and again to win City Hall's blessing to build housing targeted at neighborhood seniors, only to be lectured by city development officials about how it would run afoul of fair housing laws. He is threatening to take up the issue with city officials over what he calls a "double standard."

    Boosters of gay condo developments say they have no plans to heap on straights the kind of discrimation they've suffered over the years. But it's unclear how welcoming heterosexual singles and couples would find these communities.

"What if I was saying this building is just for heterosexual people, or Muslims, or Jews or Catholics. What's the difference?," asked Michael Carucci, head of ERA Boston Real Estate Group. "To take it the next step and say this building is just for gay people - it's a bit much," he said.

Joy Malchodi, who hopes to buy a condo at the Fenway's proposed Stonewall at Audubon Circle, acknowledged that living in a like-minded community is a major attraction for her. The 58-year-old Fort Point resident recalls days when most gays and lesbians stayed in the closet.

"You would really know your neighbors," Malchodi said. "The boys would have wonderful dinner parties and I would have plenty of women to go golfing with."

About 23 other people have put down $1,000 deposits for one of roughly 60 units in the proposed Fenway development

Designed, but not limited to, older gays and lesbians, perks include a dining hall and concierge service. Units will sell from $400,000 to $700,000.

The initial plan for Stonewall called for a condominium co-op. That would have given residents the power to reject would-be buyers, though not on sexual orientation, which would run afoul of anti-discrimination laws.

 

But while the new project's condo board will not have such power, residents will have to want to pay for extra services that include a course on "gay grandparents."Meanwhile, developers are pushing forward with plans for more projects targeted at gays.

David Aronstein, whose Stonewall Communities is marketing the Fenway complex, is exploring the possibility of condo projects for aging gays and lesbians in Boston's suburbs, as well as in other New England cities such as Providence.

Now some developers - including at least one local builder - are exploring what could be a controversial next step: A condo complex catering to gays of all ages.