A long-planned mixed-use development in Newton Upper Falls has been approved for a new plan with fewer buildings and less overall space.

The reworked project was approved Monday by Newton’s City Council, whose members used the occasion of the vote to consider once more how the development could affect the city’s school district, traffic and tax revenue.

Northland Investment Corp. has sought to remake aspects of the 23-acre development to reflect dramatic changes in the real estate industry since it first proposed the project just before the pandemic.

The real estate developer, which is based in Newton, is now planning five fewer buildings and wants to convert an existing mill building on the edge of the site into residences instead of offices.

In all, the new iteration of the project includes 22 additional housing units for a new total of 822. There will be 100,000 square feet of retail and 5,000 square feet for medical offices.

An initial plan called for 180,000 square feet of office space. Slumping demand for office use was cited for the change.

The site, on a busy stretch of Needham Street near the Needham line, used to be a shopping plaza, with a Marshalls, CVS and others, as well as offices.

The city council voted to approve the amended plan, 19-4.

Councilors in favor said they would have preferred the initial plan for the site but wanted to see the new version go forward anyway. Others cited concerns about traffic and effects on the city’s school system with new residents. There were also voices raising concern over tax revenue from residential development rather than the preferred commercial.

“Clearly, we would have preferred the added revenue to the city that fully rented, or reasonably rentable, commercial space would bring,” Councilor Alan Lobovits said.

“But if the market for commercial space is not as positive as we would hope,” he added, “an empty and developed mill building might not be assessed at the full commercial rate.”

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In Florida, volunteers from Ballantrae, The Brittany, Estates at Heathbrook, Grandeville on Saxon, Lakes at Suntree, Paramount on Lake Eola, Rialto, and Saddleworth Green organized a beach cleanup at Paradise Beach in Melbourne, helping to protect the shoreline and surrounding marine environment.

Further north, members of our Finance and Asset Management teams spent the day revitalizing the Newton Little League fields—cleaning, painting, and preparing the grounds for the 2025 season.

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For more details about the NMHC 50, visit NMHC | 2025 Top Owners List.

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As proud event sponsors, Team Northland climbed 34 floors in support of lung health research and advocacy. We’re pleased to share that our team was recognized with two awards: Largest Civilian Team and Fastest Civilian Team.

We’re proud to continue supporting this important cause and appreciate the opportunity to contribute to its impact over the past decade.

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Waco, TX–  Northland, a national real estate private equity firm with $8 billion of assets under management, announced the acquisition of Flats on Chapel, a 216-unit garden-style community. This acquisition complements its existing Waco asset, The Legend, bringing Northland’s total units owned and managed in the market to 514 units, expanding its Central Texas footprint and leveraging the operational expertise of over 100 site employees across its 5,700-unit Austin portfolio.

Flats on Chapel is in the Hewitt submarket, which is regarded as Waco’s most sought-after neighborhood and is within the consistently ranked Midway Independent School District. Due to its proximity to four central job drivers, Texas Central Park, Ascension Providence Health Center, Baylor University, and Amazon and Walmart fulfillment centers, Hewitt has become one of Waco’s most affluent neighborhoods. With Waco’s growing tech sector, the property offers prime access to diverse job opportunities.

“Flats on Chapel presents the ideal opportunity to revitalize a community in one of Waco’s most desirable enclaves, while capitalizing on the continued growth of the Texas Triangle’s major economic corridors,” says Mike Campbell, Northland’s VP of Investments. “By leveraging the expertise of our established Central Texas team, we will enhance the resident experience with a diverse range of floor plans and top-tier amenities across our Waco communities.”

Flats on Chapel consists of 27 residential buildings featuring 100% corner units, with a unit mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and an overall average unit size of 998 square feet. The community offers amenities that include a clubhouse, fitness center, dog park, playground, and swimming pool

To enhance the community, Northland will add washers and dryers in every unit, introduce smart-home technology, and roll out bulk internet services.  Additionally, Northland plans to invest $2.5 million in site-wide improvements, including upgrades to the buildings’ exterior and common areas.

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Who
Northland is a privately-held real estate private equity firm with core competencies in the acquisition, development, management, and long-term ownership of multifamily and mixed-use real estate throughout the United States. They “seek to provide properties and services that allow residents to truly make a home and a community for themselves.” Northland employs approximately 650 people across 16 states with an earned revenue of $600M.

The Opportunity
Northland wanted to establish a strong foundation of diversity and inclusion across their entire organization. Their core question was: “How do we ensure our efforts reach staff throughout our corporate headquarters and properties spread across 16 states?” With a highly committed senior leadership team and an engaged, diverse workforce, Northland was well positioned to leverage existing strengths to move their inclusion work forward.

“As the average team size at each location is around eight, team members have to work very closely together day in and day out to be successful.  It helps that our teams already celebrate both professional achievements as well as personal milestones including various cultural events.”
–Jay Babbitt, Vice President of Human Resources, Northland

Our Work Together
We launched our partnership with Northland with discovery conversations structured to elicit understandings of Northland’s culture, priorities, and expectations for our work together. Through those conversations, we identified that there was a need and interest in foundational learning across the organization. Our expert facilitators led Understanding Social Identities workshops open to all team members, and an Organizational Change for Equity workshop, which was designed for leadership, including regional managers. From there, we led a core group of 20 Northland leaders across the organization through a dialogue and action planning process, then provided support for the implementation of their plan.

Pivotal Learning Moment 1
During the five-session dialogue series, during which we engaged leaders from across Northland, it became clear that an intentional focus on communications would strengthen the impact of their strategy. Specifically, developing a plan to socialize changes in policy, messaging, and corporate goals across diverse employee groups in different geographic locations, and developing a concise call to action not just with employees, but with residents and investors as well.

Pivotal Learning Moment 2
To successfully implement a robust action plan, Northland realized they would need to clearly map roles and responsibilities. They stood up working groups to drive progress on each of the three goals they identified.

Action Plan
At the conclusion of our 14-month partnership, Northland had developed a clear action plan comprised of three goals and related outcomes:

Implementation: The Northland team got to work, with YW Boston staff supporting them throughout. We held meetings at three-month intervals to review progress on goals, roadblocks, and to identify resource and support needs. Since then, Northland has embedded DEI into their culture and their employee experience beginning at onboarding through to employee communications and DEI related events. They have created a DEI events team that helps Northland host events that are increasingly engaging, meaningful, and accessible, and have also turned their standard DEI new hire slideshow into a short video introducing their DEI committee members to all new employees.

Moving Ahead: “We recognize that our DEI journey continues and will evolve as we introduce new team members to Northland along with other changes within, as well as, outside our control. We continue to engage with YW Boston whether that is formally through their learning and development programs, such as LeadBoston, to their Community of Practice where you can connect virtually each month with leaders from other organizations to discuss challenges and opportunities, current events, and how they may impact employees and organizations. Informally, we now have formed strong connections with the team at YW Boston if we ever need to get some feedback.” – Jay Babbitt, Vice President of Human Resources, Northland

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These donations are supporting Home Start’s continued growth, including the national expansion of their innovative Renew Collaborative. This initiative leverages public-private partnerships to prevent homelessness before it begins.

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• City Year School Supply Back – Corporate Office & New England Properties
• Books for Africa – Georgia
• United Way Feeding Tampa – West Florida
• Harry Chapin Food Bank – Southwest Florida
• Second Harvest Food Bank – East Florida
• Feeding Palm Beach County – Southeast Florida
• NM Road Runner Food Bank – New Mexico

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