Housing Planned For Redeveloped Salem State South Campus

SALEM, MA — The development team chosen for the sale and redevelopment of the 23-acre Salem State South Campus plans include the construction of both market rate and affordable housing, the historic adaptive reuse of existing campus buildings and enhanced connectivity to the scenic Forest River Conservation area.

Gov. Charlie Baker's administration on Friday said it recommended Avalon Bay Communities Inc. and WinnCompanies as the development team following a request for proposal and selection process.

State Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan said the proposal "will transform underutilized university property into a thoughtful solution for housing needs in the area."

"This initiative will bring long-term benefits to Salem State and its students and to the broader Salem community," Heffernan said.

Once a purchase and sale agreement is executed, it is anticipated that final closing will take place within one year.

"I am pleased that our long-sought efforts to transform Salem State's physical campus through BOLD have reached yet another milestone with this recommendation," Salem State University President John D. Keenan said.

SSU BOLD is a university campus unification and modernization initiative that includes consolidation of programming on the North and Harrington campuses, sale of the South Campus, renovation of the now-vacant Horace Mann Building to house South Campus programming and the construction of an addition to Meier Hall to house modernized, flexible high-intensity teaching labs.

"This important step brings us closer to our goal of a consolidated campus footprint and allows us to re-invest in our campus infrastructure, which will greatly enhance the student experience," Keenan said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)