nantucket, ma

12.5 acres
14 buildings
225 apartment units
87,470 sq. ft.

 

Project Overview

Nantucket Meadows II is a large-scale modular workforce housing development located on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Developed by Richmond Company, the project was designed to help address the island’s critical shortage of affordable year round housing for the local workforce that supports Nantucket’s tourism and service economy.

The development consists of:

  • 12.5-acre site

  • 14 residential buildings

  • 225 apartment units

  • 376 modular units

  • 191,226 total square feet

As a designated National Historic Landmark, Nantucket presents unique design, zoning, transportation, and construction challenges. The project required a modular construction approach that could balance historic sensitivity, workforce housing demand, coastal durability, energy efficiency, and construction logistics. 

 

Modular Construction for Workforce Housing on Nantucket

Workforce housing projects in remote and high-cost markets like Nantucket face significant construction challenges, including labor shortages, transportation constraints, limited staging space, and compressed seasonal construction schedules.

Modular construction helped reduce on island labor demands while accelerating the overall construction schedule. By fabricating modules off site in Signature Building Systems’ Pennsylvania manufacturing facility, site work and building construction occurred simultaneously, reducing project duration and minimizing disruption to the surrounding community.

For developers, this approach provided:

  • Faster project delivery and occupancy

  • Reduced dependence on island labor availability

  • Improved schedule predictability

  • Reduced material handling and transportation complexity

  • Less on site disruption in a historically sensitive area

  • Greater quality control through off-site manufacturing

 

Complex Coastal Logistics & Transportation

The Nantucket Meadows project required an extensive logistics and transportation strategy coordinated across multiple states and transportation methods.

Modules were fabricated at Signature Building Systems’ manufacturing facility in Moosic, Pennsylvania, then transported approximately 350 miles by truck to New Bedford, Massachusetts. From there, modules were loaded onto barges and transported more than 60 miles across open ocean to Nantucket.

Due to Nantucket transportation regulations and ferry scheduling requirements, barges operated within tightly controlled delivery windows. Once on the island, modules required coordinated offloading, police escorts, and transportation through narrow historic roadways to the project site.

The project demonstrates how modular construction can successfully support large-scale multifamily and workforce housing developments in geographically constrained and logistically challenging locations.

Modular barge delivery from New Bedford, MA to Nantucket Island.

 

Coastal Engineering & Historic Sensitivity

New construction on Nantucket must withstand harsh coastal weather conditions while remaining compatible with the island’s historic architectural character.

The buildings were engineered to meet 140 MPH wind load requirements associated with coastal construction in hurricane prone regions. Modular construction provided additional structural advantages through factory controlled fabrication methods and integrated structural connections designed for transportation and coastal durability.

At the same time, the project maintained the architectural scale and appearance expected within Nantucket’s historic environment, helping blend new workforce housing into the surrounding community.

 

Energy Efficiency & Building Performance

Nantucket Meadows was designed to comply with the Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code, which requires energy performance levels exceeding standard building code requirements.

To improve long term energy efficiency and reduce operating costs for residents, the buildings incorporated:

  • R-23 Rockwool wall insulation

  • R-49 blown-in cellulose attic insulation

  • Foam-insulated crawlspace walls

  • High performance DP-50 windows with U-.26 energy ratings

  • Third party blower door testing for envelope verification

The project demonstrates how modular multifamily construction can support energy-efficient affordable housing development while maintaining schedule and quality control advantages.

 

Signature Building Systems’ Scope

Signature Building Systems fabricated and transported the modular units for the development, manufacturing a majortiy of the sill plate up construction offsite before delivery to Nantucket.

The project highlights Signature’s experience with:

  • Large scale modular multifamily construction

  • Workforce and affordable housing developments

  • Coastal modular construction

  • Complex transportation and barge logistics

  • Energy efficient modular buildings

  • Historically sensitive project environments

Nantucket Meadows II remains a strong example of how modular construction can help developers deliver workforce housing faster, more efficiently, and with reduced disruption in challenging coastal and historic markets.