Everett land sought for River's Edge
The commission overseeing the River's Edge project for Everett, Malden, and Medford plans to pursue the acquisition of a 40-acre site in Everett that was purchased last month by a developer.
The Everett land, until recently owned by
Medford Mayor Michael J. McGlynn, who chairs the Mystic Valley Development Commission, said the agency will seek to acquire the property by eminent domain or straight purchase, noting that it had previously made clear it would do so even if GE sold the land.
"We have a master plan we've worked on for a number of years," he said of the River's Edge blueprint, "and we are in a position now where all the hard work has been done in terms of cleaning up and removal of the old structures. Now we are ready to move forward and build the project, and it's tough for us to deviate from what we've worked so hard on for the past decade."
Malden Mayor Richard C. Howard said that, provided the move had the support of Everett, he believes the commission will "move forward to put the resources in place to bring this within [its] ownership."
Everett Mayor John Hanlon said he backs the commission moving to acquire the land, though he remains open to other options new owners might offer.
On Sept. 27, General Electric sold the 40 acres for $3 million to D & C Real Estate LLC, a joint entity of Central Steel Supply of Somerville and The Duncan Group of Everett. That same day, D & C sold the land for $5 million to Berkeley Green II LLC, an entity formed by Berkeley Investments Inc., a Boston real estate investment and development firm, teaming with Greenfield Partners, a Connecticut real estate fund.
Richard M. Griffin, vice president of acquisitions for Berkeley Investments, said the company's intention is to develop the site.
"We are going to figure out what the highest and best use for it is. We will have conversations with the mayor of Everett and other parties that have been involved in . . . River's Edge to see what their thoughts are. But we are going to move forward with something at some point."
Regarding the commission's interest in acquiring the site, he said, "We are willing to sit down and talk to them. . . . We are open to anything." But, he said, "our intent is to develop it. We didn't buy it with the thought that we would just sell it to someone else right away."
Berkeley Investments is developing a 92-unit condominium on Boston's Congress Street, and City Square, a mixed-used development in Worcester.
Griffin said the firm previously owned an office building in Medford just outside the boundaries of River's Edge, along with an adjacent parcel on which it planned to build a data-storage facility. But when the telecommunications industry went into a downturn, the company successfully moved to have the overall site rezoned to residential, and subsequently sold it.
Preotle, Lane and Associates, the New York-based master developer of River's Edge, is completing work on a 10-acre park on the Medford portion of the site.
The commission is also awaiting what it hopes will be the start soon of the first building construction for River's Edge, development of 400,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately 200 residential units, also in Medford.
The commission some years ago tried to reach a deal with General Electric in which the company would donate the Everett land to it.
But Howard said the deal could not be struck because the commission was unable to provide GE with the legal indemnification it sought from future legal claims arising from environmental contaminants on the site.
GE, meanwhile, did donate 8 adjacent acres to Everett for a waterfront park.
McGlynn said he did not regard the recent sale of the 40 acres as a setback for River's Edge, and that it might even be a positive since it established a sale value of the land of $5 million, half the $10 million he said GE had previously indicated it might bring.
"If we are going to take it by eminent domain, we've just cut the price in half," he said.
But Griffin said that based on sales of comparable properties in the area, he believes the property could be worth as high as $40 million.
And he said of eminent domain, "I hope it doesn't come to that."
McGlynn said the commission has spoken with Preotle, Lane about the possibility of that firm advancing the funds it would need to acquire the Everett land.
He said the commission would also look to the state for help.
Howard, meanwhile, expressed disappointment that GE did not give the commission a chance to buy the land before the recent sale.
GE spokesman Rich Gorham responded, "The plans and discussion of potential development of this site had been ongoing for several years. . . . We've been involved and collaborative throughout the process and a specific outgrowth of that is the fact that we donated 8 acres to the city of Everett.
"Ultimately we decided to pursue this transaction as the most viable option that both meets the commercial and industrial use parameters that were established," he said of the sale to D & C Real Estate.
He said GE was not aware until several days prior to the closing that the property would be immediately sold by D & C to another entity.
John de Vries, a principal of Central Steel Supply, said his firm had intended to build a steel warehouse distribution center on the Everett site, moving from its current Somerville location.
The Duncan Group, which does finish-coating of aerospace- and construction-industry products, planned to relocate and expand its operations on another portion of the site, according to company president Richard Brooks.
De Vries said the two firms decided to sell the property instead because of the apparent opposition to their plans from the commission and US Representative Edward J. Markey.
