Town Meeting Approves Stephen Palmer Appropriation

October 22, 2025
• In a hand-count vote on Monday, Special Town Meeting approved a funding appropriation to facilitate the transition of the apartment building’s ownership back to the town.

Town Meeting members voted 135-49 to appropriate $385,000 to help manage the final months of the ground lease at Stephen Palmer Apartments, located at 83 Pickering St. On May 3, 2027, that lease expires, at which time the building and land will revert back to the town.

As part of the agreement with Stephen Palmer Associates (SPA), who manage the building, the complex’s 28 units must be vacated six months prior, by Oct. 31, 2026.

In her remarks at the meeting, Select Board member Marianne Cooley said the town “is not equipped to operate as a landlord” and it will take time to envision and fully realize a future use for the property. The building’s current low rents and dated facilities may prove difficult in attracting a potential new property management company, who could also raise rents, she added. “As we get closer to the turnover date, arrangements get harder and more expensive and riskier,” Cooley said.

The $385,000 covers all 28 units’ rent and utilities, should all tenants vacate the premises Dec. 1, until May 2027. Once vacated, units will not be refilled.

If all tenants remain until Oct. 31, 2026, the amount would shrink to $200,064, Finance Committee Chair John Connelly said.

The funding appropriation “gives the town a path to a vacant building and creates the condition so that the town can assist tenants in relocation,” Cooley said.

“We believe that clarity is kindness in this case. Otherwise, it is human nature to avoid making preparations for an unwanted move with the idea that nothing will change,” she said. “Better that we can help tenants, over the course of the next year, to find a new home that suits their needs.”

Stephen Palmer tenants have expressed frustration with the move-out date and have advocated for staying in their units until May 2027. Needham residents received letters from the tenants sharing those sentiments prior to Town Meeting.

Several speakers spoke in opposition to the plan. Town Meeting member Paul Siegenthaler questioned why the town can’t allow tenants to remain until May.

“Clearly, we can’t be good landlords, because we’re foregoing a whole bunch of potential rent from tenants who want to stay in their units,” Siegenthaler said, “and this gives them the extra six months to figure out what they’re going to do with their lives.”

In response, Cooley said the timeline would still allow tenants to find another place, particularly one within their price range. Rents at Stephen Palmer range from $826 to $1,430, which is significantly lower than most other units in Needham.

Within that price range, there are currently no available rental units listed on Zillow, Redfin or Apartments.com in Needham, as of Wednesday morning.

At the tenants’ current rents, Town Meeting member Emily Cooper said “there really is no place for them to go.” Cooper, who said she works in housing, said the town’s potential financial assistance still might not be enough. Even if they use housing vouchers, some landlords don’t accept them, she said.

Lois Sockol, a longtime Town Meeting member, also stressed the difficulty with relocating in Needham.

“I, in my heart, can’t deny them that six months,” Sockol said. “I don’t see [how] what they’re asking for is going to be so detrimental to this town. These are our people.”

“Does that six months mean a lot? It does to us,” said Judy McIntyre, who lives at Stephen Palmer.

Town Meeting member Holly Clarke called for the town to support tenants’ wishes to remain in their homes, saying the plan “just seems cruel.”

Adjusting the move-out date to May 3, 2027 would require a new deal with SPA, which is not a sure bet, Cooley said.

The term “eviction” came up several times in discussion, though Cooley remained adamant that that is not an accurate descriptor. The latest date leases end is Oct. 31, 2026, and “any existing lease that expires prior to October 31, 2026 will be converted to month-to-month,” according to the signed agreement between the town and SPA.

Stephen Palmer, built in 1914, operated as an elementary school until it was converted into housing in the 1970s. Town Meeting member Tom Harkins, a 1957 graduate of the school who voted to support the ground lease in 1977, asked about the consequences should the article fail.

If the town hadn’t approved the funding appropriation, tenants would not have been able to receive financial reimbursement from the town of up to $10,000 for relocation costs and other associated moving fees. With this successful passage, those funding requests are expected to appear before the Finance Committee on an as-needed basis, Cooley said, and should the town receive more requests, a warrant article on the matter could appear at Town Meeting in the spring.

While the town is asking residents to vacate by Oct. 31, 2026, Cooley said that “if a tenant is still there after that date, they are on month-to-month.” “We are not doing any eviction proceedings in that period,” she said in response to a question.

“It doesn’t take away that the town really is hoping that we can find a place that tenants will move by Oct. 31 2026,” she said, “because it is important to the town to be able to get a vacant building back.”

Following the vote, Town Meeting members supported an amendment to the FY26 operating budget that reduced the reserve fund amount by $385,000 to implement the Stephen Palmer funding. Though Stephen Palmer dominated discussion, Town Meeting members also approved an amendment to the stormwater bylaw, as well as the FY26 sewer and water enterprise funds.