Cranberry Manor to add affordable senior housing to property

With plans to stand three stories tall and hold 40 one-bedroom units for low income senior living, Cranberry Manor II is in the works.

The building will sit behind the pre-existing Cranberry Manor, a multi-family apartment complex at 2220 Cranberry Highway. With plans in place to begin construction in fall 2026, the company building the housing is looking for funding.

Associate Real Estate Development Director, Noelle Humphries, spoke on behalf of NeighborWorks Housing Solutions at the Tuesday, Feb. 3 Select Board meeting. According to Humphries, the company has owned the property since 1998. 

"We thought this would be a nice way to combine both family and senior to capitalize on the land that we have rather than having to go to buy land or find land," she said. 

The new senior living site will go by area median income, 16 units will be 30% and 24 will be 60%. Rent will include utilities. 

With common spaces, a multipurpose room and a wellness room the new space is for residents 62 and older. Plans include removing an unused basketball court and adding green spaces around the property. 

The project has no current price point, but has secured some funding as its gone through the design process. Cranberry Manor II was one of 21 projects given money last August by Governor Maura Healey.

However, the funding secured so far is just scratching the surface. NeighborWorks applied for $300,000 from Wareham's Community Preservation Fund. 

The fund is a part of the Community Preservation Committee, which helps groups in town request funds for projects in four categories: open space, historic preservation, affordable housing and recreation. The money is raised through a 3% surcharge on property tax bills.

"While we have the other sources in place, you can probably imagine— it's a really expensive undertaking," Humphries said. "We do not have updated pricing yet, we expect it probably within the next two to three months."

Humphries said the community preservation funds would be "instrumental" to closing the gap of construction costs. If the request is approved by the committee, the project will go to Town Meeting to be voted on. 

The Select Board joins the Wareham Affordable Trust in writing letters of support for the project to assist in future grant and fund applications. NeighborWorks aims to close on the project in Summer 2026.