On a former asparagus farm in a Boston suburb, four private houses are clustered together to make room on the property for a community vegetable garden, walking paths and other shared spaces.
Zur Attias of The Attias Group Real Estate, who is the developer and listing agent for the homes at 430 Old Bedford Road in the town of Concord, initially had a vision for a family compound on the 3.7-acre property. While he is now preparing to market each of the four houses separately, he plans to maintain the communal elements. The four homes are on sale together for about $12 million, while one is also listed on its own at $3.2 million.
“The concept is to connect people, but to offer it in a luxury way, vacation-quality,” Attias said in an interview. “We’re trying to do something different rather than a four-home cul-de-sac where people may or may not talk to each other.”
Each owner will pay a few hundred dollars a month to a homeowners association, which will hire a gardener. This hired hand will cultivate fresh produce and flowers and fruit trees in an area a stone’s throw from the owners’ back doors. Another staff person will manage beehives on the property to give residents honey. The owners will have the option of helping grow the food they will eat, Attias said, and can ask the gardener to plant the veggies they like. Any produce the residents don’t consume will be delivered to a local food pantry.
A site plan for the property shows a driveway from Old Bedford Road along one side of the houses, and a shared walking path behind their backyards. Beyond the path lies an open meadow, butterfly and wildflower gardens and the food garden. Residents can also walk into a wooded area where they will find the pond that was used to irrigate the asparagus crops. A separate path linking the road to the pond will be open to the general public.
This sort of shared arrangement wouldn’t be for everyone, Attias said.
“If community’s important for you, it’s delightful,” he said. “If it’s not, it’s probably not the best thing for you. One of the newer houses was sited with a little less exposure to the [shared areas], if one of the four parties wants a little more privacy.”
When Attias’ firm acquired the property a few years ago, the farmhouse and barn from the asparagus business were still standing. He kept both structures, renovating and adding on to them for the first two houses. The three-bedroom farmhouse now has a two-car garage, while the remodeled barn has four bedrooms. The remaining two homes, each with three bedrooms, are entirely new.
“We could have applied to take those historical structures down, but instead we decided to make them part of the campus, which also created some diversity in the styles of houses. There’s a connecting quality to all four homes,” Attias said.
With an eye toward attracting a family that would buy all four homes, Attias had the two newer homes designed with first-floor bedrooms to accommodate residents who have trouble navigating stairs.
The four-house compound has been on the market for the better part of a year. A number of people did express interest in buying the property so they could have room for their adult children and guests, Attias said, but no one has signed a contract. It’s possible that if someone buys the individual house that is now for sale, another party could buy the other three.