By Heather Holland | Published Sept. 10, 2024

Brookfield, MA — The residents of Brookfield Meadows, a 55+ community with 61 homes, have organized together to purchase their manufactured home park for $3.9 million, making them the newest resident-owned cooperative community in Massachusetts.

The 36-acre park, surrounded by dense trees and nature trails, located at 87 Town Farm Road, was built by private owners in 1988.

Dr. Gene Fry, a retired resource economist, moved to Brookfield Meadows with his wife about 15 years ago. The couple was looking for a quiet place to live in the country and found it at Brookfield Meadows after visiting dozens of communities across the state.

“The homes were all double wide with spacious lots,” said Dr. Fry. “It is a great walkable neighborhood, where you can go on a two- or three-mile hike one way and another mile walk the other way through the heart of the woods. My wife and I said, ‘gee, this feels like home.’ Since moving here, it’s been our golden years.”

Residents of the community had long discussed the possibility of resident ownership, said Dr. Fry. In 2010, the residents created a tenants’ association so that they would be ready to pursue the option when the time came for the owners to sell, he said.

In the winter of 2022, CDI reached out to the owners of Brookfield Meadows through a post card mailing, offering to support the owners in selling the park to its residents. The owners showed interest in the idea, but it wasn’t until late in the summer of 2023 that the idea grew legs. Residents themselves started reaching out to CDI for more information on how to become a resident-owned community.

Nora Gosselin, Market Development and Acquisition Specialist at CDI’s New England Resident-Owned Communities (NEROC) program and Andy Danforth, a consultant and founder of CDI’s NEROC program, began educating the residents about resident ownership, helping them to organize and establish a board of directors, and negotiate an offer price.

The residents, represented as the Brookfield Meadows Owners’ Association, submitted their offer in the spring of 2024 and the owners accepted. The residents signed the closing papers on Sept. 4, 2024.

Dr. Fry currently serves as the president of Brookfield Meadows’ board of directors and during the community’s transition, Dr. Fry went door-to-door to organize his neighbors and get their buy-in to purchase the community, he said.

“It was very helpful that CDI was there to lead us through the process,” said Dr. Fry. “Nora [Gosselin] is very personable, knowledgeable, and good at being a resource and keeping things on track. She had all the forms we needed to fill out. She helped us create a timeline for the process and she provided the documents we needed to make decisions.”

Fifty-seven households, 93 percent, agreed to become resident owners of the cooperatively run community. The cooperative’s board of directors includes a group of residents with diverse expertise and backgrounds, including one resident who worked as a tax accountant before retiring and has lived in the community for 33 years.

The association secured $4.4 million in financing from ROC USA Capital, which will cover the purchase, some infrastructure work, and allows the community to phase in lot rent increases.

“ROC USA Capital is very pleased to have provided a $4.4 million financing package to help enable the 60 homeowners at Brookfield Meadows to purchase the land beneath their homes and improve their neighborhood,” said Michael Sloss, Managing Director, ROC USA Capital. “This 10-year financing package provides long-term security for the homeowners, many of whom are retirees. We worked closely and effectively with both CDI and the homeowners at Brookfield Meadows to achieve this success, and ROC USA Capital looks forward to working with the them in the future to continue to sustain and improve their community.”

Brookfield Meadows represents the 60th manufactured-home community in New England that CDI’s NEROC Program has helped to transition to resident ownership, and it’s the 30th community supported by NEROC in Massachusetts.

The NEROC Program, made up of a team of experienced advisors, helps manufactured homeowners cooperatively purchase and democratically manage their communities, preserving the quality and affordability of homes in our region. To learn more about NEROC and their team, visit https://cdi.coop/new-england-resident-owned-communities-neroc.

If you’re a manufactured-home community owner interested in selling your park to residents or you’re a resident of a manufactured home community who wants to learn more about resident ownership, please reach out to Nora Gosselin at ngosselin@cdi.coop.

For press inquiries, please reach out to Heather Holland, Communications Manager at CDI: hholland@cdi.coop.

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