Development Group Breaks Ground on Swanzey Senior Housing

SWANZEY — Work is underway on an affordable senior housing development that gave rise to a years-long legal dispute.

Plane View Senior Housing, which will provide more than 70 units, broke ground in late April, according to Jack Franks, chief executive officer of Avanru Development Group. He expects construction on the residential building — at 115 Old Homestead Highway (Route 32) — to take about 18 months, finishing well into 2027. 

"I think that we're going to have a lot of happy seniors in the area who are going to have a lot more options than they do now," he said. "[We're] pretty excited to have that impact."

Plane View's planned 74 units comprise 63 one-bed, one-bath units and 11 two-bed, two-bath units, Franks said. The development will also be equipped with a community room, a communal kitchen and a library area for reading.

Affordable housing is typically defined as living accommodations for which occupants pay no more than 30 percent of their gross income for costs, including utilities, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Franks said the units will be affordable for people who make 60 percent of the area median income and below. 

Prospective tenants won't be able to register for housing until the work is complete, Franks said. Because it's affordable housing, the company can't look at applications until 90 days prior to occupancy, as the tenant's information has to be as current as possible. 

The project has faced opposition from residents concerned about the character of the area changing, and was at the center of a long legal battle between Avanru and Swanzey that rose to the level of the N.H. Supreme Court.

With most of the conflict behind him, Franks said he's enthusiastic to see construction begin.

"This thing's gonna get built," he said. "We're very excited."

The saga began in 2020 after Swanzey's zoning board denied Avanru a special exception needed to build in the town's business district, a decision that a Cheshire County Superior Court judge later ruled was an error, The Sentinel previously reported. In 2021, the N.H. Supreme Court affirmed that ruling. 

In 2024, Avanru sued the town's zoning and planning boards, alleging the two had mistreated the company during the approval process in years prior, The Sentinel reported at the time.

A U.S. District Court judge in Concord dismissed that case in April 2025, according to court filings. Avanru later appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where the lawsuit remains, last argued in January.

Plane View isn't Avanru's only ongoing project in Swanzey. In February, it started constructing a small-aircraft hangar at the Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Swanzey.