Wayland Acquires Town Center Land, Making Way For New Community Center

WAYLAND, MA — Wayland has officially closed on a long-running negotiation with a developer over the acquisition of land around the Town Center development at 400 Boston Post Road.

The town now owns eight parcels totaling 24 acres around the Town Center, and about half of that will be used to build a new community center and Council on Aging facility. Wayland voters and Town Meeting approved a bond measure for the facility earlier this spring.

Wayland and the developer reached a tentative agreement on the land transfer in January, with the town agreeing to forgive a final gift payment of about $620,000. The deed transfer was not certified until last month, according to the town.

"This has been a multi-year effort involving many prior Select Board members, and I would like to thank all those who helped complete the effort, including Twenty Wayland LLC for negotiating in good faith," Select Board Chair Cherry Karlson said in a news release Tuesday. "We look forward to using this land to benefit residents and community members."

The developer built the mixed use Town Center on a former Raytheon property located between 400 and 440 Boston Post Road. After about six years of design and planning work, the development broke ground in spring 2012. Wayland began negotiating with Twenty Wayland in 2015 to take possession of the parcels.

The land not set aside for the new community center will be kept as conservation land.