2-Week Warning for Westwood Station
Civic
Agenda
In two weeks, if Town Meeting rejects the I-Cubed Funding proposal for Westwood Station, it probably kills the project. Over the next two weeks, the town is holding two important public hearings where residents will have an opportunity to learn what is really at stake.
In addition, the town has updated the town website with materials related to this project at:
http://townhall.westwood.ma.us/index.cfm?pid=15395
The public meetings are:
- First, this Tuesday, April 20, at 7:30pm, the Board of Selectmen and Finance Commission will hold a "Public Information Session" in the High School Cafeteria. more information
- Second, on Monday, April 26, the Finance Commission will hold its final public hearing on the Annual Town Meeting articles. This meeting will be at 7:30pm in the High School Little Theatre. more information
I've spoken with people at Town Hall who are know as much about this project as anyone and while I have been unable to convince anyone to "go public" and post on this blog, I would like the share the following information about facts and perceptions that I have obtained. It is impossible to completely separate fact from opinion but I hope this will be helpful and I encourage anyone who wants to question and learn more to attend this public meetings if they can and/or post questions here to begin and continue a discussion over the next two weeks. This is a lot of "dry" information, so I'm going to use some editorial license and sum each item up with my own sentence. I have criticisms of my own, but I am going to hold off for now and see what develops in this discussion.
- There's no conspiracy about timing. The timing of the release of all this information 2 to 2 1/2 weeks before Town Meeting is due to delays in working out the many pieces of the compromises involved to obtain cooperation from the Town of Canton and coordinate the state funding. Ultimately, the matter will be decided by Town Meeting and with 2 weeks to go...that's enough time for everyone with an opinion to prepare and argue their case.
- The "plan" remains intact. The newly proposed Phase 1 is not a "drastically reduced WWS project." Phase 1 consists of 35 acres – leaving 111 permitted acres to be developed. The WWS master plan remains in tact and eventually, the belief of the everyone involved with this project is that the remainder of the area will be developed.
- The $55 million state grant requires reduced scope in Phase 1. The state imposed a 500K sq. ft. cap on retail, prior to the Dedham Street corridor improvements, as a condition of the $55MM infrastructure funding. see http://townhall.westwood.ma.us/westwood/file/2010-01-19%20$55M.pdf and http://www.westwoodma.gov/westwood/file/2010-04-01%20Jan%2019%20letter%2.... Given that there would be no WWS without the infrastructure funding, the developer (and now Westwood) have two choices – accept the conditions or, pass on the $55M and wait to see what the future brings.
- Phase 1 is not a big box mall.It has the same anchor tenants and retailers as before, with some small boutique type retailers and a few restaurants. At the moment there are 2 anchors (Target & Wegmans), 6 junior anchors, 15 small retailers and 2-3 restaurants. It is about 300K sq. ft. less dense then what was programmed there before. The belief among those planning the development is that this remains a good start to broader development at Westwood Station.
- State money is good no matter what. In addition to keeping the Westwood Station project alive, the $55M in infrastructure will benefit Westwood by making the Westwood Station area much more ripe for development. Perhaps you could characterize it as making the area "developer-ready." Also, it sets the stage for the 93/95 interchange work to be accelerated. That project will unlock substantial economic development for Westwood. This funding covers the first components of the 93/95 project and the prospect of that initial work has already generated great interest in finishing the broader project much sooner.
When I say "2-week warning" (analogizing to a 2-minute warning in football) I'm not playing the "doom and gloom" game here. The reality is that if Westwood walks away from a $55 million state intervention it's going to kill this thing. But that does not mean we have to close the schools and turn off the tap water. It just means doubt about whether the project will deliver all the promised benefits will turn into certainty that it will not and we will have to start seriously thinking of alternatives.
Comments
How is our commercial tax base affected by WWS?
Over the past ten years, I have watched as our real estate tax bill has skyrocketed. When we first arrived here, the tax rate was rather modest in comparison with my former town of Milton. There, the lack of any significant commercial tax base created an endless cycle of prop 2-1/2 overrides for schools and town services with no end in sight. Even now, I understand, there are still terrific struggles each year to close the gap.
When we moved here, the University Ave area tax revenues provided a substantial boost to town coffers and seemed to provide stability that kept our taxes at a reasonable level. Now that area is a ghost town as it waits for the improvements that WWS is supposed to bring, together with the promise of substantial tax revenues.
If this project fails or continues to stagnate, I fear that our tax bills will continue to increase at an exponential rate just to cover the every day expenses of running the town. We would hope and expect that some form of commercial development will fill in the revenue gap of what would have been the WWS enterprise, but will it be based on a comprehensive plan, or catch as catch can? How long will it take for any significant tax revenues to be generated? Or will the area sit as an undeveloped eyesore for years to come providing the town with nothing but heartache and aggravation? And who has not visited Legacy Place and felt a sense of disappointment that the people shopping there could just as easily be providing revenue and jobs to our town?
Let the town make their own comments
.
Dave Atkins says in his post."the developer (and now Westwood) have two choices – accept the conditions or, pass on the $55M and wait to see what the future brings. Dave how is that factual? Did you talk to someone from the state that sent you a letter to confirm this is the truth? The state grant for 49 million should have nothing to do with the town and the I-Cube 6 million. I have not heard from one person from the state saying that if Westwood does not vote yes on the I-Cube the state will not do the 49 million infrastructure work. Are you telling me the state is going to bite its nose to spite its face. This is not our development and we have already done more than our share for CC&F. Did we ever get a letter from Wegmans saying if we don't vote yes on a beer and wine license they are not coming or was that another scare tactic. Dave why don't you save us a lot of speculation and get a letter from the state saying if Westwood does not vote yes then the state will back out. I am 100% done with the scare tactics of Westwood. If it was the first time I could understand, but it happens over and over. Dave why don't you do some digging and see what kind of funding CC&F has. If the town has something to input let one of their own come out and tell us. One other thing I truly don't understand people who post who are scared to use their own name behind what they have to say. I Ignore their post because we don't know where that post is coming from.
timing is everything
If you read the two letters from the state above, you will find that it is true that they do not make the vote at Town Meeting a condition of the funding. They do, however, make the start of construction a contingent factor. I'm open to correction here...if anyone who knows how this works better than I believes the state will simply step up and kick in an extra $6 million or that CC&F has some financing available that they have been sitting on for 2 years, please correct my assumption. If that were the case, then there would not be a need for any of this and it would have happened already.
FREE money compared to I-cube funding
If the state is willing to do 49 million dollars worth of work for FREE and CC&F still needs 6 million to make Westwood Station happen, then it seems they simply don't have the funds to make this development work. This was supposed to be a 2.2 billion dollar project and if your telling me its dead in the water over 6 million it tells me they don't have the funds to make this development work. One other thing Dave, the 49 million is money which does not have to be paid back to the state. What is the town getting back besides being asking to be on the hook for 6 million. This is a win, win situation for CC&F not for the town. This whole project is a gamble and who ever is playing the cards for CC&F is doing a much better job than whoever is playing the towns hand.
Dave do they have the funding to make this project happen YES or NO
Westwood Station info
1. Did anyone attend the April 20 joint meeting about Westwood Station? Can someone update the blog if they get a chance?
2. Is anyone planning to put this series of meetings on Cable Channel 8?
3. Has CC&F provided updated financial info to the town?
4. What are the 2-3 restaurants planned? Can we hear their actual names?
5. Can someone ask the town to put the April 29 Traffic presentation on the Town website so we can decide if it is worth attending the meeting? The plans must be in print by now.
Westwood Station Facts and Questions
According to the CC&F Economic Development Proposal dated April 13, 2010 there are a number of issues raised based on both statements included in that Plan and statements not included in the Proposal. First off is the issue of size.
*CC&F states they will develop 450,000 s.f. of retail space in Phase 1 (p. 22*).
* ‘A total of 87% of the gross leasable area is under commitment with signed leases, leases out for signature, or under a negotiated LOI.’ (p.58)
* June 15, 2010 is the date given when CC&F believes they will have “Leasing Sufficiently Complete to Close Loan (roughly 90% complete)” (p28)
*Executed leases (incl. Wegmans) constitute 46% of the 87% ‘committed’ (p.58). Wegmans is approximately 30% of the 46% executed leased space. (p.22)
A couple questions arise based on the above facts they’ve provided…
1. With a current commitment level of 87% (roughly 90%) why have they not yet secured financing?
2. Wegman’s and Target will constitute 278,000 of the 450,000 to be developed (p.22). Roughly 62%. Who are the other companies that bring the committed leasing level up to 87%?
*CC&F notes that “Nearly 30 percent of the site is dedicated to open space” (p 18).
1. Since Phase 1 is all that is being promised at this point, what percent of Phase 1 will be dedicated to open space?
*Phase 1 is 450,000 s.f. “Future Phases (Approximately 3,700,000 GSF)” (p.19)
1. How many future ‘phases’ are expected and how many years are anticipated until full build out?
I’m sure there are many many more questions that I haven’t the time or level of knowledge to ask. But given the history of this developer, this project, and what’s at stake for the town it seems that questions such as these should be answered and fear tactics should be kept to a minimum. After all…knowledge is power. Why not share it.
kj
*all page numbers correspond to the page numbers on the hard copy proposal NOT the electronic e.g. pdf, pages
re: WW Station
KJ and Dave Feyler raise a lot of good questions/points. It'd be great to have them answered... just for the sake of easing the apparent suspicion and cynicism towards the town's oversight of this project. I'm not feeling these alleged "scare tactics" of the town that some have alleged... if that is the intent of the town, it doesn't really concern me anyway because it sounds like the i-Cubed thing is pretty well thought out as far as protecting the town financially (not sure if this was just how the i-cube program was set up or if our town demanded these provisions, but either way, I'm not losing sleep over i-cube).
The thing I worry about is what Phase 2 will be and when it'll happen if ever. I understand Phase 1 is limited in scope for now because of the tough market conditions, but it falls short of what I was expecting out of WW Station (mix-use). I had my reservations about the full WW Station plan, largely because of the added residences and the potential impact to school/town resources and expenses... but I eventually got on board and quietly supported the plan. I just I worry about the developers being able to attract more retailers/businesses/high end condo builders after Phase 1 is complete (will it just look like a big box mall area or will it really look like an attractive scalable concept for a Phase 2 for future businesses?).
PowerPoint Slides show $1 million new tax net revenue
The slide presentations from last night's public information session are on the town website at:
http://townhall.westwood.ma.us/westwood/file/2010-04-20%20Public%20Info%...
and
http://townhall.westwood.ma.us/westwood/file/I-Cubed%20Summary%20-%20Apr...
The key piece of financial information that is new here is that the before and after property valuations indicate a net tax revenue gain of over $1 million. That means after the developer builds this, the Town wil increase the assessment of the property from about $32 million to $96 million. See slide 11 in the first link above.
property at Westwood Station
Didn't CC&F pay $150 million for the property? Before they knocked all the buildings down, they were the town's highest taxpayer.
Interesting to compare the
Interesting to compare the "projections" about new tax revenues with projections of a couple of years ago presented by Mr. Rafsky which served as the basis for actions by the Fin Com and Town Meeting to approve various articles relating to the site. The earlier projections were, of course, for tens of millions of dollars per year by now in new tax revenues. Why did we need to go through all of this if all we are getting is $1M per year (which does not take into account what was lost by tearing down the businesses that were there) and why is the state willing to put up $55 million for this?