Investors still balk at Station funding

But four years after they unveiled plans for the 4.5-million-square-foot megaplex, developers are still seeking crucial financing and cannot say when ground will be broken on the project.

To add to their hurdles, neighboring Canton remains adamant that the developers pay tens of millions of dollars to bolster local roads for the estimated 55,000 additional car trips a day the complex would bring. Even though a Superior Court judge has tossed out the town’s claim that a state environmental review of the project did not consider traffic and road data before determining it would have no immediate impact, Canton’s lawyer has appealed and is scheduled to present oral arguments on Nov. 3 before the Supreme Judicial Court.

“The town is hopeful that funding commitments for the required infrastructure will be made soon,’’ said Douglas McGarrah, the town’s attorney.

Nothing has come easy to Westwood Station, not in a prolonged economic slump. But its developers say they are not giving up.

Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, New England Development, and Commonfund Realty remain committed to the “grand vision and philosophy’’ of the Route 128 mixed-use mecca, spokesman Michael Goldman said. But a loan would be good.

“Sooner or later, someone will say yes,’’ said Goldman. “The point is, it’s not something we can control. All we can do is be ready. This country has never stayed in a depression forever.’’

But opponents of the megaplex maintain the plan for Westwood Station was not sound to begin with.

Canton resident Tony Braconi, who has sat through various meetings on the development over the past three years, says he is upset and frustrated with Westwood’s leaders for continuing to support the project. He says he and other opponents doubt it will be built.

“And we said that three or four years ago, because it is just too big,’’ Braconi said. “I liken it to a neighbor putting an addition on his house who wants to use your driveway.’’

Yet, Westwood officials see the revenues, fees, and jobs the complex could generate as a local and regional boon even as progress is continually stalled and smaller developments like Dedham’s Legacy Place and Foxborough’s Patriot Place are already open.

The developers will have to seek amendments to the original site plan for the first phase of construction, when it occurs, because they have shifted the focus of the project from retail and upscale housing to big-box giants Target and the New York-based Wegmans Supermarket.

“But that is a less intense process,’’ said Michael Jaillet, the town administrator. “They have already gone through the worst-case scenario, so scaling back slightly is quicker and easier.’’

Westwood has also asked Governor Deval Patrick and state transportation officials to give CC&F stimulus funding to help pay for more than $100 million in critical infrastructure.

Westwood Station and four other big local projects were targeted months ago in requests for $20 million to $60 million each in federal and state money. The Westwood project failed to get funding in the first round, which focused on paving; Phase 2, expected soon, seeks long-term job creation, Goldman said.

Here, it would pay for a new highway interchange just south of the Westwood Station site, between Interstate 93 and Interstate 95, to handle increased traffic and allow Target and Wegmans - which are financing themselves - to start work, Goldman and others said.

But the project has seemed destined for a long, bumpy ride.

From the beginning, Westwood and Canton residents criticized the scope of the $1.5 billion project. In 2005, CC&F began buying up land near property it already owned in an outdated office park on University Avenue. At the time, Westwood officials were rezoning land around the Route 128 train station, and soon the megaplex concept emerged.

Then came fierce opposition from residents, court cases, and delays, and, just to muddy the mix, an economy that tanked. So construction that was pushed to last spring was postponed to the summer, then this fall, and now, it’s anyone’s guess.

At the first indication last year that the money wasn’t there, the developers began “value engineering’’ the exclusive mall, downgrading materials and plans to better lure in bankers, CC&F president Jay Doherty said at the time. Since then, there has been no activity and little word.

But that’s not unusual, said Phil Shapiro, chairman of Westwood’s Board of Selectmen. Although there isn’t much progress, he said town officials are still optimistic.

“There was a series of plans that didn’t go forward because of financial markets and the economy,’’ Shapiro said. “Clearly, it will be a multiphased, much slower build-out. I have always felt Westwood Station was a 15- or 20-year project because of the complexity and eventual impacts. Westwood Station will benefit the whole region.’’

Braconi disagrees.

“Nobody in Canton wants that off-ramp, which will change the town forever,’’ he said. I-95 north off Neponset Street “is already a nightmare every day.’’

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net.