This week, Leggat McCall Properties told city officials it is abandoning the research and development vision for the 107-acre former Kraft Foods site and converting it into an all-residential neighborhood instead. The pivot will add roughly 504 apartments to the master plan, on top of the senior housing and townhomes already built on the property, as per Connect CRE.
According to Connect CRE, Leggat McCall executives told local leaders that the market for new lab and research space has essentially "collapsed" after a wave of speculative lab construction swamped demand. Executive vice president Rob Dickey is quoted saying the life sciences component was conceived "in a very different time" and that "the development industry got overzealous."
What The Vale Already Contains
On its project page, Leggat McCall describes The Vale as a 107-acre redevelopment of the former Kraft plant built around a flexible master plan with commercial, senior living and residential uses. The company notes it has already demolished legacy industrial buildings, delivered pad-ready commercial parcels and sold portions of the southern part of the site for housing development.
Homes Already Built: Senior Living And Townhomes
The housing side of The Vale is not just on paper. The Delaney at The Vale, a 223-unit senior living community at 300 Began Way that opened in 2024, is already operating on the site, with its unit count and address confirmed by The Delaney. On the for-sale side, Pulte Homes’ Highland at Vale has delivered dozens of townhomes and low-rise condominium units; community materials from Pulte describe Highland at Vale as a 75-townhome neighborhood with three low-rise condo buildings.
Developer: “We Were Overzealous”
Dickey told officials that the math which once justified hundreds of thousands of square feet of lab and manufacturing space no longer works. As reported by Connect CRE, he said the firm now expects more than a decade before the market can absorb additional commercial research construction, adding, "We’re looking at a decade-plus of absorption before new construction’s justified."
Planning Friction And Neighborhood Concerns
The shift to more housing follows a permitting history that was already drawing scrutiny. Neighbors and abutting communities raised concerns during earlier reviews about stormwater, traffic and the overall scale of redevelopment, issues documented in public filings and memoranda related to The Vale. During master plan review, the Town of Winchester submitted formal comments warning about potential downstream flooding and traffic impacts.
What’s Next
To walk away from the original mixed-use blueprint and move to a heavily residential program, Leggat McCall will need to seek changes to its approvals. Any new direction has to be reflected in permit amendments and public submissions to the city. The City of Woburn maintains a Technology and Business Overlay District docket for The Vale, along with a public record of master planning and special permit filings that will frame any revised application.
