HCA is planning to build 40 energy efficient affordable apartments at the properties we own at 840 Mass Ave and 17 Newman Way.
The 40 units will be housed between two buildings: one on the large lawn in front of the 840 Mass Ave building and another in the place of the 2-family home that is now at 17 Newman Way, which we will remove. HCA will pay for the relocation of the existing two Newman Way households and support their rent in their new homes for a period of time after their move. The project will include a large interior courtyard with native plants, a commercial office space facing Mass Ave, and new landscaping along Mass Ave. This page will provide updates as those plans move forward.
[Note: In the earliest days of this project, HCA was referring to it as NewMass Homes. In December 2025 we updated the project name to Emma’s Court, to honor Emma Lockeland Sprague, who inherited the land from her father, ran a farm and market on the site, and lived at 840 Mass Ave at the time of her death in 1939. We will add more historical detail about this new name in coming weeks!]
If you would like to join the email list to receive notifications about the project please contact:
Erica Schwarz, Executive Director
ESchwarz@HousingCorpArlington.org
781-859-5294 x1
or
Andrew Wofford, Project Manager
AWofford@HousingCorpArlington.org
781-859-5294 x3
LATEST PROJECT STATUS
December 2025
HCA plans to submit a zoning application to the Arlington Redevelopment Board in mid-December. Once we do that, we will post all of the project details here, as well as the date of our first ARB project hearing.
Fall 2025
In November, we hosted a meeting just for tenants who live at the properties now, and another meeting for the community at large. We are finalizing our plans in order to submit them to the Town and request a zoning approval under Arlington’s MBTA Communities multi-family zone.