I agree with the most recent post on Civico. I live at Oriole Landing and have since they first developed. It was pretty disgusting how they flipped the place immediately, and I would like to know what the profit was on that $32M sale. They really cut corners in developing the units; maintenance is always commenting on that, and I’ve had one problem after another from the original development (the property manager has been generous in fixing everything). And if left to their own devices, without the town weighing in, they would have built 120 units, not the 60 that are currently here with the lovely landscaping. Please do not allow them to develop another one without going through town meeting and all the other approvals we used the first time around. They need a lot of supervision. Also, 10% affordable housing is ridiculously low. (And remember, “affordable” still means the units are $2000+ per month.) Gatekeep this one for sure.
> On Nov 1, 2023, at 9:05 PM, Karla Gravis <karlagra...@gmail.com> wrote: > > That specific sentence being quoted needs to be taken in context of the full > paragraph from my email: > > "However, because Civico has said they do not want to go through town meeting > again (slide 34 of the SOTT deck linked below), the HCAWG wants to rezone the > mall area through HCA, even though the acreage does not count towards our > compliance requirement. Rezoning through HCA also means that we lose the > ability to vote on actual plans/blueprints. > > I am not against redeveloping the mall area. However, let's not reduce our > residents' input by bending to the will of a developer. Let's remember we > gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 affordable apartments in Oriole > Landing, and they turned around and sold the building for $32M. Like someone > else has said on this thread, it is indeed troubling." > > The reason I think it's troubling is *not* due to the affordability > requirement (which by the way, in the case of Oriole Landing is not 15%, but > 25% or 15 units out of 60). > > I think it is troubling because we gave a no-interest loan to a developer > that very shortly afterwards offloaded said property, realizing a very > substantial profit. Given the span of time elapsed between the loan and the > sale, it must have been obvious to many observers that the project was more > than financially viable for Civico. It is also troubling that this same > developer now states they do not want to go to town meeting to redevelop the > Mall, and the working group is bending over backwards to accommodate that > wish by forcing this a la carte rezoning through our HCA compliance exercise. > Rezoning through HCA means that the town loses the ability to vote on actual > plans/blueprints for the project. We also lose the ability to control how > much, if any, commercial space survives in the new development. And most > troubling of all, zoning through HCA allows us to require only 10% affordable > housing - we lose the ability to require more. > > I question the assumption that we needed to give Civico a $1M giveaway to > compensate them for the concessions they had to make. For a similar project > in Winchester, approved in 2022, Civico had to actually pay the town $1.5M, > add more public parking and increase the number of affordable units. > Winchester gave Civico a $500K loan at 5% interest, to be repaid in 13 years. > Seems like we have a lot more room to negotiate with Civico than some would > like us to believe. > > https://homenewshere.com/daily_times_chronicle/news/winchester/article_73f9c2b0-e672-11ec-8b7c-5fe0df0538d2.html > > <https://homenewshere.com/daily_times_chronicle/news/winchester/article_73f9c2b0-e672-11ec-8b7c-5fe0df0538d2.html> > > > > On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 8:20 PM RAandBOB <raand...@earthlink.net > <mailto:raand...@earthlink.net>> wrote: > Scott, I think your nasty tone is completely uncalled for. I did read your > post and this is what the final sentence said: > > . Let's remember we gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 affordable > apartments in Oriole Landing, and they turned around and sold the building > for $32M. Like someone else has said on this thread, it is indeed troubling. > > It may not be what you meant, but this statement could lead someone to > believe that it’s troubling because the 15% affordable housing disappeared > with the sale. Margaret is just clarifying that point in a very reasonable > tone. > > Ruth Ann > (She, her, hers) > >> On Nov 1, 2023, at 7:01 PM, Scott Clary <scottclar...@gmail.com >> <mailto:scottclar...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> . Let's remember we gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 affordable >> apartments in Oriole Landing, and they turned around and sold the building >> for $32M. Like someone else has said on this thread, it is indeed troubling. > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >
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