There are a lot of large houses in Lexington. Many are restored colonials that pay homage to the late eighteenth century when America’s fight for independence began on Lexington’s Battle Green.
There are also a handful of neighborhoods packed with mid-century modern architecture that likewise has historical roots in town.
In the last few years, very large contemporary ‘McMansions’, as many like to call them, have popped up around Lexington.
A house at 23 Thoreau Road is currently the most expensive on the market in town, priced at $6.1 million. It has six beds, 10 baths (8 full, two half), and measures 8,649 square feet. It’s also Boston.com’s “luxury home of the week” this week.
Across town, developer Todd Cataldo has been building a circle of luxury houses off Pleasant St. The development is called Linc Cole Lane and will host 9 multi-million dollar new-builds, some of which fit the contemporary style, and three condos.
With so much economic uncertainty right now, why are developers building such large houses, and who is buying them?
It’s a classic chicken and egg problem, Beth Sager, CEO of the Lexington real estate agency Beth Sager Group, told the Observer.
“Most teardowns in Lexington are priced between $1 million and $1.5 million so developers have no choice but to put up a big house” they can charge a lot of money for to turn a profit, she said. “The economics of smaller houses don’t work for builders.”
Michael Barr, who works at Westview Homes Development, a custom house-building and remodeling company in Bedford, offered the same reasoning.
“Teardowns are expensive,” he told the Observer. “To make a margin, you have to build big.”
Barr said selling these extra large houses isn’t a problem in Lexington, which he argued is “recession proof.”
There are a lot of “high earning individuals,” many of whom work at nearby biotech companies and want to move to Lexington because it’s historical, beautiful, and has great public schools, Barr said.
“Their children can get a great education and the parents don’t have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in private school tuition,” he noted.
Selling McMansions isn’t a total cake walk, however.
Houses that are priced over $4 million usually sit on the market for about 80 days, Sager said. On Wednesday, the $6.1 million house at 23 Thoreau Road had been on Zillow for 97 days.
Neither Sager nor Barr seemed worried about larger houses selling in Lexington despite economic uncertainty.
But Sager wonders whether the federal government’s immigration policies will push buyers out. Many of the people who buy the super large houses in Lexington are international, she said. If they decide it’s too risky to buy a house in the states, the market for these new builds could suffer.
“Most teardowns in Lexington are priced between $1 million and $1.5 million so developers have no choice but to put up a big house” One choice the developers do have would be to leave these lower priced homes to the many families who would be happy to own and occupy them. How can we alter the incentives in town so our children have a shot at affording to live here?
Chuck:
By ending by-right construction on single-family house lots.
But while our Select Board says “Lexington wants to be climate resilient”, it does nothing to end the construction of these (environmental, aesthetic, energy, etc) monstrosities, pretending — as it did when it failed to notice in April 2023 the huge impacts that zoning 227 acres for MBTA developments would have on our Town budgets — that land use regulations are the sole province of the Planning Board (which Planning Board is basically in the pocket of developers).
Are you accusing our democratically elected planning board of graft, of accepting bribes from developers?
No. I am saying the PB tends to act the way developers want them to act, and clearly has made NO effort whatsoever to slow down, let alone, eliminate the profusion of (by right) monstrosities across Lexington — a Town our leaders claim they want to make more affordable (including with a 2/3 of $1 billion new high school…).
Also, the younger Planning Board members are sometimes “guided” by retired or consulting past Planning Board members.
The owners selling those smaller homes want-and often need- to get the maximum amount of money for their property. The builders have more to pay and it’s easy to sell to them because you don’t need to fix any problems with the structure.
One of the biggest issues I see is that many of these oversized “luxury” builds are unlikely to survive even a decade of New England weather. There’s one I pass regularly on my walks, brand new, for sale, yet its inoperable windows and exposed nail holes already show the siding beginning to detach. These homes aren’t built to last; they’re built to sell. Developers know there’s a market among cash-heavy buyers looking for short-term convenience and enough space to house an extended family, not for enduring quality or thoughtful design.
Very humorous that this extreme monument to consumption is located on Thoreau Rd.
Very true. Having a single family home like this is insane.
The only thing that dissuades builders is a lot which is too small. Certainly, there are regulations which the town could pass which would grandfather in older homes but set greater setbacks for new construction. The problem here isn’t that there are huge homes (and there should be a strict energy efficiency standards for new construction), it is that there are too few smaller homes because of tear-downs. The town can limit the construction of the huge homes which, pretty much, take up entire lots if it chooses to do so. Our first home here, in 1978, was on a 5,000 sf lot. We added a dormer and, the current owners bought the home from us in 1994, I believe. Had a small home not been available, we could not have moved here. I want other young couples to have that option.
Green building codes and strict energy policies cause building costs to up substantially, thus developers have to go big to make a profit. These building codes are part of the reason homes are unaffordable in Massachusetts. Lexington has a wealthy population, so developers flock there. Why do you think there was so much MBTA housing, so fast? I don’t know of any MBTA projects in Winchester yet.
The cost of the new high school with geothermal heat is a perfect example of making projects unaffordable with expensive energy sources. Local governments have created the lack of affordable housing with bad policy for decades.
“The economics of smaller houses don’t work for builders.” That sums it up. Apparently, the builders are dictating what’s getting built and NOT the residents or their elected representatives. Firstly, who needs 6000-8000 sqf house? Its wasteful, it’s expensive to maintain, heat, cool, and furnish. Beautiful canopy trees are chopped down, and green space is eliminated to make room for these mansions. I’ve seen so many of these mansions sell only to go back on the market within 8 years, cause the kids have graduated and the family left. A family of 5 can comfortably live in a 3000 sqf house and it’s sad we’ve forgotten that. Look to the rest of the world for what’s considered enough for a wealthy family. This doesn’t build community, it only fosters waste and excessiveness.
Secondly, as others mentioned, how do these mansions align with Lexington’s sustainability goals? The amount of construction materials (many of which will go into landfills) is astronomical! Does adding solar panels and efficient appliances really offset the level of waste?!
How about incentivizing residents and builders to remodel or add additions instead of knocking down and building new ones? Add incentives to keep old trees and green space so Lexington can remain a leafy suburb and not a temporary part-time home to the uber-rich who fly their private jets out of Hanscom Field.
Problem is these monstrosities are built by right. Incentives won’t work. What will work is to institute town-wide strict FAR rules, or better yet, a maximum # of cubic feet of construction per square feet of land, which when I suggested it in Town Meeting a decade or so ago, caused me to be laughed out of the room. Rira bien qui rira le dernier… Meanwhile we will have more such monstrosities, less “climate resilience” and less economic diversity in Lexington notwithstanding the Select Board’s empty slogans, and less affordability — as a 2/3 of $1 billion design for a new high school will also result in.
The real estate transaction industrial complex is getting out of hand and needs to be reigned in. The high end McMansion residence market does not serve a housing need, but is a medium for storing wealth, not a provider of domicile. This is part of the housing problem and not a solution. For years we have been bombarded with glossy color brochures mailed soliciting residents on how to stage their homes for sale and statistical charts on all types of real estate data and solicitations for attending “master class” selling seminars. It is in your face where ever you go. Newspaper page after page ads, even Kiosks with courtesy disinfectant wipes at pharmacies, supermarkets. Even grocery store checkout counter dividers with names of prominent local brokers claiming selling made easy. No restraint here. (now, don’t get me started on the junk phone-calls with all cash offers).
Our governance at the local level is very weak on the issue and fraught with moral hazard. We have town meeting members claiming they have been here since the last century, even a Mr. X sells Lexington What is their end game? but they are gaming the system. Town Meeting has a serious moral hazard problem.
When I bring up this, the canned answer is real estate brokers are part of the community and they exist for servicing a community need, not much different than Funeral Homes. This is very bizarre. Prior to the pandemic I would see sandwich board signs in front of real estate offices claiming “open house broker on duty” drop-ins welcome with balloons on them. I never seen similar signs in front of Funeral Homes with undertaker on duty, drop-ins welcome. Increase in the number of funeral homes does not increase the death rate, but increase in real estate marketing efforts increases sales rate.
Nice Ed