Hastings Marks a Half-Century in Homebuilding

Tom Hastings

Founder and CEO, The Hastings Companies
Age: 74
Industry experience: 53 years
A recent anniversary party marked the 40th anniversary of the South Shore’s first 55-and-over community, Leisurewoods. The original developer, Tom Hastings, met current residents who grew up visiting relatives in the 396-unit manufactured home community in Rockland, and now call the property home.

The Hastings Companies’ development portfolio ranges from historic home restorations to townhouses, apartments and cluster subdivisions. The company has developed more than 1,000 homes in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Florida and California.

Q: What is the history of the company and your start in development?
A: I actually started more than 50 years ago just in Rockland, buying a house and renovating and selling it. And in Duxbury, I bought vacant land and got it approved for a single-family subdivision. But my first large development was Fulling Mill Farm in Hingham, which was on a 30-acre parcel that I bought when I was 25 in 1978.

When I started in the business, I had heard that Kaufman & Broad, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., were looking for land in Massachusetts. And I was already working on assembling 120 acres in various parcels, and I helped them get approval for a duplex subdivision. In 1975, Kaufman & Broad pulled out of the eastern U.S. And I bought [the parcels] back and started my odyssey for Leisurewoods, which took me from 1977 to 1985 when it broke ground.

The [Rockland] selectmen sued the ZBA. One of the selectmen was an abutter and he sued, and then the [South Weymouth] Naval Air Station sent me a letter that they were evaluating taking 40 acres to extend one of their runways. Thank goodness that didn’t happen. I sold off some of the land for single-family and a little condominium building, and I received approval for 415 manufactured homes in a self-contained retirement community.

At that time in Massachusetts, it was innovative. MIT and Harvard, before they combined their real estate schools, they came out and studied it, and it made a lot of national headlines. The question was about manufactured homes and whether they are depreciating. I always felt Leisurewoods was about the lifestyle and the location. The homes were as good, if not better, than most site-built homes. The homes I sold for $55,000 to $70,000 now sell for $300,000 to $400,000.

Q: Did you use existing developments as a model?

A: There were some older communities in Halifax and Carver that used manufactured homes, and I thought something that had a clubhouse, security gate, shuttle bus lifestyle-oriented community closer to Boston would be successful. There was nothing to compare it to, so I was shooting in the dark. We had 3,500 people show up at an open house on a Saturday and a Sunday. We sold over 100 homes between 1985 and 1990. I was very happy to revisit Leisurewoods and see how this is probably the third generation of residents.

Q: What was your involvement with the Hingham Shipyard redevelopment?

A: I purchased the [original] Building 19 from Jerry Ellis. It was a World War II-era, quickly-built warehouse that had outlived its useful life many times over. I helped AvalonBay get their approvals for the apartments. What was ironic is across the street, I built [the 45-townhome] Back River and cleaned up a lot of the naval ammunition depot.

You don’t have many opportunities to remove World War II-era bunkers: poured concrete that goes 40 feet underground. There was a whole amazing complex with a network of steam pipes where the steam plant and the ammo bunkers were. There was no memorialization of the water, sewer or utility lines. We had to figure out where they were. The steam pipes were covered in asbestos. We had a big environmental cleanup.

Q: What is your most recent project?

A: I did a small condominium development in Foxborough which is called Pine Crest. It was a small cluster subdivision that I got the approvals for and sold four years ago. This was a parcel of land that had contamination on it, and over the years it had become a habitat for salamanders and Blanding’s turtles. So, we ended up only building on 18 of the 95 acres. The lots were about 20,000 square feet for single-family detached homes.

Q: What prevents more projects like that from getting completed?
A: Massachusetts is very proud of home rule and how each community should decide their destiny, but it really has been very hypocritical. Over my career, I’ve seen zoning requirements that required larger and larger lots that only make sense with larger and larger homes. The hypocrisy is that communities are neglecting a large portion of their residents. They need to have housing for newly-formed families and young singles, and housing at the other end of the spectrum.

I shake my head with this last go-round for the mandate for the MBTA Communities zoning. But nobody’s holding the communities accountable, so communities have been able to zone areas that are already developed with shopping centers or parking lots. And the [state Department of Housing and Livable Communities] isn’t saying it’s got to be land that’s vacant.

Even with Chapter 40B, there isn’t a rapid procedure. You still have to comply with state regulations as it pertains to wetlands and now animal habitats. Massachusetts prides itself on having the greatest higher education and biotech and health services in the world, and that’s not going to continue if young people can’t live here.

Q: How do you define a good development site?
A: I’ve always been driven by great sites, not so much by product. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had some fantastic sites. Proximity to where buyers and tenants are coming from is always the most important thing, and if it’s residential, some natural features, views and tree cover are always important.

Hastings’ Five Favorite U.S. Buildings

  • Chrysler Building, New York
  • Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania
  • Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco
  • Rowes Wharf, Boston
  • 600 Atlantic Ave. [Federal Reserve Bank of Boston], Boston