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City receives two bids for Fairhaven Mills
Plans call for retail, residential developments
By Aaron Nicodemus, Standard-Times staff writers
 NEW
BEDFORD — The most controversial parcel in the city took
a major step toward development yesterday, as bids of $1
million and $200,000 were submitted for the Fairhaven
Mills property.
Urban Investments Associates, a Roxbury development
group led by Lewis Duane Jackson of Milton, offered to
pay $1 million for the 6 acres of city-owned property at
the site. Urban Investments offered a plan that echoes
Mayor Scott W. Lang's publicly stated hopes for the site
by saving the existing Fairhaven Mills building with a
mix of residential and retail uses, and building a
hotel, supermarket, commercial office building,
market-rate condominiums, two parking garages and a boat
house/marina.
Dickinson Development Corp., a Quincy-based development
company led by Mark C. Dickinson, offered $200,000 and
proposed building a retail complex that would be
anchored, most likely, by Home Depot. The plan also
calls for another retail building and a restaurant, a
mirror of the plan that Home Depot presented in the
previous deal. In its proposal, Dickinson said it has
purchase agreements with two of the private land owners
at the site, neither of whom is John Meldon, who owns
the Fairhaven Mills building.
After Mayor Lang had announced the RFP bid, the city had
touted that 39 developers had taken out informational
packets. By the time the RFPs closed, 49 companies and
individuals had taken out packets. Only two offered a
proposal.
In its request-for-proposals, the city had estimated its
properties to be worth $2.6 million. In the previous
proposal, Home Depot offered $10,000 for both parcels.
"Two-hundred thousand is 20 times what we were told we
could get before, and $1 million is 100 times more,"
Mayor Lang said. "I think this process has shown that
the parcels are valuable."
When asked if he is disappointed that only two
developers submitted proposals, Mayor Lang said he is
not.
"I saw in these two proposals that an awful lot of
developers who showed an interest teamed up to put
together these proposals," he said. "I have heard that a
number of developers who looked into Fairhaven Mills are
interested in developing other sites throughout the
city."
Called "Whaler's Landing at Fairhaven Mills," the Urban
Investments plan would be completed in three stages,
according to its proposal to the city. The first phase
would renovate the existing mill on Coggeshall Street
into a mix of residential and retail, and a new
commercial office building. Phase two would encompass
the hotel, artist live-work space, affordable housing
and a parking garage. The third phase would build out
market-rate, waterfront condominiums, a boat house and
another parking structure.
The proposal says Urban Investments' "understanding of,
and sensitivity to, local issues has contributed to its
success."
According to its proposal, Urban Investments has
accomplished several developments, including a mill
conversion into offices for Harvard University Law
School; a 45-unit mixed income housing development
called Lucerne Garden in Boston; and a 74-unit, mixed
income housing development called Parmalee Court in the
South End of Boston. Mr. Jackson also owns a vacant,
one-story former First Federal Bank building on Union
Street in New Bedford.
Urban Investments does have some heavy hitting
development partners. Samuels & Associates is the retail
management company for the proposal; Samuels &
Associates has developed the South Bay Center in
Dorchester, has developed and sold a $250 million
portfolio of shopping centers, and recently completed a
sprawling development called Trilogy in Boston's Fenway
neighborhood.
In Dickinson's proposal, named "Coggeshall Place," it is
made clear that Home Depot is the preferred anchor
tenant.
"Given Home Depot's substantial interest in a New
Bedford location, based on prior approvals sought for
this site, we will meet with them and discuss their
interest in being the anchor tenant," the Dickinson
proposal read.
Dickinson has built two other Home Depots, in Quincy and
Reading, and has been designated as the developer for 30
acres of waterfront land in Dover, N.H. According to its
proposal, the company has built shopping centers,
hotels, office buildings and industrial projects from
Florida to Maine. Dickinson's bid has a significant
local tie, as well: Its general contractor for the
project is D.W. White Construction of Acushnet.
Perhaps the most notable company not to submit a bid was
Berkshire Development LLP, a Springfield developer that
had been buying up options on land around the city-owned
property.
Berkshire Development had committed to pay as much as
$10 million to the private owners, including more than
$4 million to John J. Meldon, the owner of Building 4,
the largest intact remaining mill.
Berkshire, however, allowed its purchase and sales
agreements to lapse two weeks ago. Philip N. Beauregard,
the lawyer for Mr. Meldon, said it was because the city
had demonstrated bias for preserving the
historically-designated mill.
Tim Traynor, a senior vice president with Berkshire,
confirmed this week that his company believes the city
changed its position in favor of preserving the mill.
"What really would have been more helpful is if we'd
gotten some very clear direction from the city," he
said.
Mayor Lang said he "would have loved Berkshire to be
involved."
"It would have been very inappropriate to telegraph what
the final disposition (of the RFP process) would be,"
Mayor Lang said. "We told everyone it was an open
process, open to everyone."
Berkshire would have preferred the city dealing directly
with the controller of the private properties and not go
through a separate RFP process, Mr. Traynor said.
The nature of the Fairhaven Mills site — with its
environmentally compromised land, proximity to a
struggling urban center and numerous separate owners —
means that it is only developable as a single parcel
that includes both the private and the city properties,
he said.
It might make sense to renovate Building 4 at some point
in the future, but in order to develop the property now,
at least half of Building 4 must be torn down, he said.
"The problem is that as much as the heart wants to
preserve these things, the economics just don't work, he
said.
A lawyer for a second private property owner told The
Standard-Times this week that after Berkshire decided
not to finalize an original purchase offer of more than
$2 million for his client's property, it offered him
"significantly less."
Michael Kehoe, attorney for Felix Petrarca, said
normally a property site whose ownership is divided
between the public and private sectors is developed when
a developer such as Berkshire ties up the private land.
The city subsequently sells the developer the municipal
property.
Berkshire was frustrated by the city process, Mr. Kehoe
said.
"I believe they got the word from above that they
weren't going to get the city land," he said.
Mr. Petrarca owned a large vacant site between Building
4 and a McDonald's located on Coggeshall Street.
Also not submitting bids were a number of large
development companies, like SBER of Providence and
Baltimore; Sperry Van Ness of Little Compton, R.I., and
others.
A 23-member evaluation committee, consisting of every
City Council member and city department heads, will meet
on Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the third floor meeting room
of the New Bedford Public Library to discuss the
proposals. The evaluation committee will recommend a
winning bid to Mayor Scott W. Lang.
Contact Aaron Nicodemus at
anicodemus@s-t.com
Date of Publication: February 17, 2007 on Page A09 |
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