Ashland Buys Northeastern Land For $4 Million
The town of Ashland has purchased 110 acres of land from Northeastern University for $4 million, according to Colliers International of Boston, which brokered the deal. The land, located on Chestnut and Eliot streets, will be protected as open space for recreational use.
Known as Warren Woods, the land was gifted to Northeastern by a private donor in the 1970s, according to Colliers Senior Vice President Robert Cronin, who represented both parties in the deal. The sale was finalized in May.
Two deeds show the sale totaled $5 million, but Cronin said the town was issued a $1 million credit to cover the town’s concern over possible environmental issues.
Ashland interim Town Manager Mark Purple said the land was once used as orchards which were treated with pesticides, which may require mitigation in the future.
Northeastern owns and operates the Warren Conference Center & Inn across the street, and had considered developing the land as a golf course in the past. When those plans fell through, the university decided to enter a competitive bidding process, Cronin said.
“We had a half-dozen proposals for single-family housing. At the end of the day, the university preferred to sell it to the town for open space purposes, as opposed to a developer who would put 50 houses on it,” Cronin said.
The town used Community Preservation funds to pay for the land, according to Purple.
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