Woods System of Care has broken ground on a 42-unit housing development in Middletown Township, Bucks County, naming the building after a longtime board trustee who helped shape the project before his death last year. The Barry R. Sharer Pavilion will reserve nine units for people with disabilities while offering the remaining apartments as workforce housing for local employees, including many who work directly in patient care.
According to The Business Journals, the project received $1.4 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, with U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick credited with helping secure that money. The pavilion was developed through a public-private partnership involving Bucks County, Middletown Township, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, TD Bank, and a roster of development partners including Domus, CBP Architects, Begley, Carlin & Mandio, Diamond and Associates, Lawrence Lake Interiors, Gilmore & Associates, and Regional Housing Legal Services. Woods System of Care President and CEO Tine Hansen-Turton said housing is fundamental to health, stability and opportunity, per the same report.
A Namesake Who Shaped the Financing
Barry R. Sharer was a longtime Woods trustee and former chair of the Woods Board of Trustees, described in the announcement as a successful business leader and expert in tax-credit-financed attainable housing who helped Woods navigate the development and financing process behind the pavilion that now bears his name. Sharer, a Yardley resident and CPA who specialized in tax-credit housing finance, served on the Woods Board for more than 15 years — including as board chair until July 2024 — before he died following a battle with cancer at age 69 in May 2025, according to the Fitzgerald Sommer Funeral Home.
The groundbreaking brought together Woods leadership and staff, the Sharer family, government officials, development partners and community supporters, the Business Journals reports. Simon Kimmelman, executive vice president and chief legal officer of Woods System of Care, said that people with disabilities were too often last in line for access to resources including housing. Woods System of Care provides services and supports for people with autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral health needs and complex medical needs.
From Maple View to a Named Pavilion
Before it carried Sharer’s name, the development moved through several working titles and site-plan iterations. Bucks County outlet LevittownNow reported that the project was originally presented to local zoning officials in 2022 under the working name Maple View, and was also referred to as Meadowbrook Apartments, on Woods’ Beechwood NeuroRehab campus at 469 East Maple Avenue. When Woods brought the project before the Middletown Township Zoning Hearing Board that year, neighboring residents packed public hearings with concerns about traffic increases and building density in the R-1 residential zone, and developers ultimately reduced the planned building height in response…