Wayland project set to be dropped
Builder blames town, will seek tenants for existing building
A Boston development firm said it is abruptly ending a four-year, $140 million effort to build a downtown village in Wayland because it cannot resolve long-running disputes with town officials.
KGI Properties Inc. was planning to build stores and 100 condominiums around a new 2-acre town green, but said endless disputes over seemingly mundane matters such as drainage and road improvements have dragged on so long that the project, known as Town Center, is no longer feasible during the economic downturn.
"The delays in permitting have dragged us into the worst point in the recession. It's a tough time to be coming out of the ground with a new project," said Charles Irving, a KGI partner. He said the firm will instead try to find tenants for an office building on the development site that was originally slated to be demolished for the new development. "If we lease the building, we will be walking away from Town Center," added Irving.
The withdrawal would cost Wayland nearly $1 million in annual tax collections, plus an additional onetime $3 million payment, at a time when municipalities are struggling to fund town services with existing taxes. Those involved in the project placed blame squarely on town officials.
"The town of Wayland is the most dysfunctional community in Massachusetts," Boston developer Dean Stratouly, the original proponent of the project, said yesterday. "The government's hierarchy is in disarray. It's dominated by a minority of special interest groups that want to live in the '50s. It's incapable of any kind of change."
Stratouly sold his share of the project to KGI four months ago, after filing the original building plans in 2005.
Michael Tichnor, chairman of Wayland's Board of Selectmen, acknowledged that town boards have taken a long time to review the project, particularly given that 80 percent of residents at Town Meeting voted in favor of the project in 2006.
But Tichnor urged KGI not to walk away.
"I hope we'll finish the permitting and move forward before they find an office tenant," he said. "The Board of Selectmen has been supportive of this project, and we still want to make it happen."
But Irving said that even if it got the town permits, KGI would have trouble leasing out retail space in the current economic climate. "It's a reality of the economy," he said. "We're sitting on a vacant property without permits to build. Absent another path, we're going down the path of finding an office tenant."
KGI has hired Boston brokerage Richards Barry Joyce & Partners to find tenants for the office building, previously occupied by Raytheon and Polaroid. The building has been vacant for several years. Irving said several prospective tenants have viewed the 410,000-square-foot facility during the past month.
KGI had previously threatened to abandon the project, only to return after town officials persuaded the company to stick with it. But Irving insisted his announcement is not a bargaining tactic to get the town to issue the company the necessary permits, which include approvals from the Conservation Commission and the Historic District Commission. Moreover, a federal agency has objected to the state's issuance of a waste-water permit for the project.
Wayland officials yesterday expressed confidence that the conservation and historic district issues can be resolved in the near future. The Conservation Commission has issued a permit with certain conditions, and its chairman, Roger Backman, said a meeting will be held to discuss remaining sticking points in the coming weeks.
The Historic District Commission denied approval for the project a couple of weeks ago. Commission officials did not return calls seeking comment.
But Tichnor said the historic panel does not have standing to defeat the project outright and will likely issue a permit within the next month.
"I'm extremely optimistic the Historic District Commission will not stand in the way of this," he said. "This project is desperately needed by the town."
Casey Ross can be reached at cross@globe.com. 