Housing Nantucket Breaks Ground on Three New Homes at 75 Old South Road

Housing Nantucket has broken ground on three new year-round rental homes at 75 Old South Road, marking the final phase of a project nearly 16 years in the making.

The property’s transformation began in 2010, when the Town selected Housing Nantucket through an RFP to turn what was then known as Miller Lane into affordable rental housing and a home for our organization. The original vision was modest: two rental homes and an office building.

But over the years, we kept asking: What else can we do here?

We relocated existing island homes and gave them new life. We changed zoning to make room for more housing. Little by little, an underutilized property evolved into a pocket neighborhood for Nantucket’s year-round community. When this final phase is complete, 75 Old South Road will include nine year-round rental homes, Housing Nantucket’s office, and space for other housing-related nonprofit organizations.

The three new apartments are all one-bedroom homes, a choice we made intentionally. Nantucket has many year-round workers who do not need a large house or multiple bedrooms. They need a small, stable place of their own that they can afford on the income they earn working here. These residents are part of Nantucket’s missing middle – earning too much for some traditional affordable housing programs, but nowhere near enough to compete in the island’s private housing market.

The new homes are being built using modular construction. Fabrication began in September at the Dreamline/Excel factory in Pennsylvania, while site work moves forward on Nantucket. The modules are expected to arrive on the island this fall, with completion anticipated in spring 2027.

The groundbreaking also brought together many of the people and organizations that make projects like this possible – donors, Town leaders, community partners, contractors, Board members, staff, and supporters. Each plays a different role, but that kind of collaboration is how housing gets built.

We’re grateful to the Community Foundation for Nantucket, through the Nantucket Fund, for supporting this project, and to Dreamline Modular and Maddox Construction for helping bring these homes to life. Most of all, we’re grateful to everyone who has contributed funding, expertise, leadership, time, advocacy, and belief in this work.

Next spring, three more Nantucket households will have a stable, year-round place to call home.

That’s why we do this work.