A 201-unit apartment complex broke ground Thursday, Sept. 24, at the former Welch's headquarters in West Concord.

L&G, a London-based asset manager, and Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings held a groundbreaking ceremony for Novo Riverside Commons at 292–294 Baker Ave., according to ConnectCRE. The two-building project will stand five and six stories tall and offer one-, two- and three-bedroom rentals, with the first building targeted for completion by the end of 2028 and the second in 2029.

Fifty-one of the 201 units, or 25%, will be reserved as affordable housing under Massachusetts Chapter 40B. Those units will be restricted to households earning less than 80% of the area median income, a threshold that stood at $132,300 for a family of four as of March 2026, The Concord Bridge reported.

The affordable apartments will remain affordable in perpetuity. That is a change from the project's earlier financing structure under MassHousing, which would have guaranteed affordability for only 30 years. Taurus originally won Zoning Board of Appeals approval through MassHousing's 40B process in 2024 but switched to the state's Local Initiative Program in early 2026 to accommodate L&G's institutional investment. The Concord Select Board gave preliminary support for the switch.

L&G is funding the project through its Institutional Retirement business, deploying long-term pension capital into housing. Novo Riverside Commons is the first ground-up U.S. development funded by that arm of the firm, according to L&G's Aug. 12 press release.

The site sits a half-mile from the West Concord MBTA commuter rail station. Welch's vacated the Baker Avenue offices in summer 2025 and moved to Waltham.

Concord's Municipal Affordable Housing Trust has committed just under $400,000 toward the project's sewer connection fee. The developers have pledged $100,000 to help reconfigure the nearby Baker Avenue and Main Street intersection to handle added traffic.

The complex will target Passive House Institute US energy standards and will include rooftop solar panels and a geothermal heating and cooling system, according to L&G.

One piece of the site's history will not survive the build. A vineyard grown from cuttings of Ephraim Wales Bull's original Concord grape vine sits on the property. Town Planner Elizabeth Hughes told The Concord Bridge in March that the goal was to save and relocate as much of the vineyard as possible.

Novo Riverside Commons is one of two large Chapter 40B projects reshaping Concord's housing stock. The 237-unit Residences at Thoreau, a separate development on Forest Ridge Road, is also moving toward construction. Together the two projects would add more than 400 rental units to a town of about 18,200 residents.

Concord Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said in March, when both projects were nearing their construction starts, "We really could have [had] nightmare projects, and they are both really good."

A Concord Housing Roundtable meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m. at the Townhouse Hearing Room, 22 Monument Square, will include updates on both developments.