“The Bellwether,” a planned 34-unit condo project at 192-194 Worcester St. (Rte. 9 east extension) and 150 Cedar St. in Wellesley, earlier this month made it through the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) process for Site Plan Approval, and now is on its way to demolition and construction.
The ZBA is working on finalizing a written decision and conditions following its Sept. 16 meeting (see presentation from Aug. 28 ZBA meeting recorded by Wellesley Media).
Project leaders said they expect demolition to take place by year-end, and construction to start in early 2026, depending on weather.
The project, which will feature seven affordable units as defined by a state formula, earlier made it through the Planning Board, Design Review Board, and 2024 Annual Town Meeting.
The Bellwether—not to be confused with the somewhat similarly sounding Belclare condo complex near Church Square on the other side of town—will be situated on property totaling some 1.44 acres. It is zoned under the residential incentive overlay (RIO) bylaw.
The Planning Department lists documents for the project on its web page as of September, 2025 (both the RIO and Project of Significant Impact decisions.
The developer first presented its plans publicly in 2023,
The three-and-four-story development would replace a mix of commercial/office/residential properties that have fallen into some disrepair. It would be adjacent to the recently completed Cedar Place apartments on Burke Lane, and would contain no commercial space.
RIOs are rare in town, being used at the Waterstone senior living complex and a couple of new condo facilities on Linden Street and Weston Road. This project would generate hundreds of thousands in new tax revenue to the town, per a Planning Board presentation to Town Meeting in 2024.
We’ve reached out to the developer for an estimated project completion date, and will update this post if we hear back.
The Bellwether is among a slew of new multifamily housing projects built, in the works or envisioned in town.
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