Developer revives $140m Wayland retail-housing bid
April election removed foes of 2-year-old effort
After a long struggle that as recently as January appeared to be over, developer Dean F. Stratouly is moving ahead with plans to build Town Center in Wayland, a $140 million commercial and residential project at the site of a former corporate office park on Route 20.
Stratouly, president of Congress Group Ventures Inc., said he and his current partners are able to proceed because town elections in April removed planning and traffic board members who had been hostile to the project.
Town Center would have 155,000 square feet of retail space and 10,000 square feet of offices, plus 100 homes. Stratouly expects the tenants to include a supermarket, an outdoors store, a drugstore, and a restaurant with a name chef.
In January, Stratouly said he was giving up on the project because of the opposition it generated in this western suburb, especially about the traffic it would generate. Even though Wayland voters last year overwhelmingly approved zoning changes to allow multiple uses, Stra touly and town officials were unable to agree on traffic and design elements. Public meetings were often heated, with Stratouly and town planners exchanging harsh words.
"I was on YouTube," Stratouly said, incredulous that the dispute had reached such a level that an eight-minute video clip from a January meeting found its way to the popular entertainment website.
Owning the property, 400,000-plus square feet of buildings once called Wayland Business Center, has been like riding a bronco for Stratouly, who developed the 33 Arch St. office tower near Downtown Crossing in Boston.
Stratouly bought the Wayland site in 1997 for $15 million, spent millions renovating it, and leased it to Polaroid Corp. -- which soon filed for bankruptcy protection and left Stratouly and then-partner Fidelity Investments with mostly empty buildings. In 2003, they surrendered control of the property to a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston, which held a $50 million mortgage.
Eight months later, Stratouly and a New York partner bought the property back for $16.5 million.
Then, in 2005, Stratouly and partner KGI Properties of Boston proposed to build 300,000 square feet of retail space, 40,000 square feet for offices, and 120 residential units -- the town's largest project ever.
After voters initially rejected the plan, Stratouly toyed with the idea of building a big residential project instead. Early this year, town officials urged the developer to move ahead with a smaller version of Town Center, and the April town election ushered in new officials who were favorable to the proposed project.
Stratouly said the design is still in the works, but he hopes to break ground later this year -- after he works out details with the new town officials.
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. can be reached at tpalmer@globe.com. 
