Description of the two featured projects: 79 King Street, Northampton, MA: 79 King Street will be a 110,000 SF building providing 66 rental units for people 55+, as well as ground floor retail and tenant amenity space. It is located in Northampton’s walkable downtown core, with easy access to local transit, Amtrak trains, and two major bicycle trails. The urban infill site is currently occupied by a single story, 5000 square foot building within a large parking lot. Due to code restrictions, the first floor and podium are concrete construction. The structure above consists of CLT floors over glulam columns and beams, and CLT shear walls. Exterior walls and cores are also CLT. To our knowledge, it is the first building for senior living in the US constructed of mass timber. Our research shows that approximately 80% of baby boomers cannot afford to age in place without the possibility of running out of money. The goal was to attract this demographic from suburban homes to urban apartments that fit their budget. The project just completed Schematic Design. 11 E Lenox, Roxbury, Boston, MA: 11 E Lenox is a 7 story, 34 unit apartment tower comprised of a glu-laminated post and beam structure with cross laminated timber floor slabs and FRT wood-frame exterior walls. Mass timber CLT proved to be advantageous in achieving unit density while staying within the 70 feet height limitations for mid-rise construction. At the time of design, the use of heavy timber for a structure was limited to five stories, and the architectural team received a variance from the state on the number of stories and concealed spaces. An integrated design approach and extensive Building Information Modeling (BIM) coordination contributed to a successful project outcome. The project has received Phius Precertification and is currently under construction. The project precedes the mass timber grant funding currently available for developments looking to pursue a mass timber alternative, and took full advantage of state funded MassSave energy incentives to fund the feasibility, development, and eventual execution of a Passive House Certified project. A certain density was needed to make the costs pencil out for a mass timber superstructure (competing with light frame construction at lower density was not possible), and at that density, achieving it under 70ft (the MA limit for non-high rise construction). Mass timber afforded the ability to stack 7 floors under 70 ft (9’-8” unit floor-to-floor elevations, with 8’-8” ceiling heights at exposed slabs and 7’-3” under beam thresholds). Passive House allowed for dramatically reduced systems which could fit within the limited floor to floor height.