Arlington/Belmont Eights Row Sunday at The Head of the Charles

By Leave a Comment

Both the Arlington-Belmont Crew’s Girls’ and Boys’ Eights are hoping to build on their month of successes with a strong race against some of the best youth rowing crews from around the world as they participate in the 50th Head of the Charles Regatta,the world’s largest two-day rowing event, taking place Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18 and 19, along the Charles River in Boston and Cambridge.

The A-B crew (shortened to ABC at events) is a club sport made up of students from Arlington and Belmont high schools. The team practices on the Charles River and Spy Pond in Arlington.

Along with 10,500 fellow rowers, the A-B crews will take on the twisting and challenging – and always daunting – three mile (actually 4.8 kilometers) course known for the 400,000 spectators that line the river and stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the six bridges from the start just before the Boston University bridge to the finish at Christian Herter Park in Brighton.

The boats will take between 18 and 21 minutes to complete the course.

The A-B’s Men’s Youth Eight will start 59th in the race in which the leading boats will take off at 10:08 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. The boat will carry cox Brenna Sorkin; stroke Max Halliday; seat 7 is Louis Pratt; seat 6, Adrian Tanner, seat 5, Liam Lanigan; seat 4, Nicholas Osborn; seat 3, Eryk Dobrushkin; seat 2, Brendan Mooney and bow Alexander Gharibian. The boys’ are coached by Mark Grinberg.

The A-B’s Women’s Youth Eight will be racing with 46 (out of 85 boats) on its bow. It’s race begins at 12:48 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. Cox Ellen Cayer will steer the boat with Catherine Tiffany in the bow, seat 7 is Sara Hamilton; seat 6, Jessica Keniston; seat 5, Sophia Fenn; seat 4, Bridget Kiejna; seat 3, Alena Jaeger; seat 2,  Catherine Jacob-Dolan and Julia Blass pulling stoke. Laura Rothman is the Eight’s coach. 

Both boats are coming off some impressive results including the boys’ taking first and the girls’ third in the New Hampshire Championships last week. And there is no rest for the crews as next weekend they will be at the Massachusetts Public Schools Rowing Association Championships where the boys’ go out to defend their gold medal.

 

Town, Schools Set Nov. 12 Application Deadline for School Committee Vacancy

By Leave a Comment

Interested residents will have just about a month to submit applications for a place on the Belmont School Committee.

But the person selected by the Selectmen and the School Committee will have to keep their running shoes on because they’ll need to win their seat all over again five months later.

In a joint letter released today, Friday, Oct. 17, the chairs of the Belmont School Committee and Board of Selectmen announced the deadline for applications to fill the vacancy left when Kevin Cunningham resigned earlier this month will be Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.

The School Committee’s Laurie Slap and Andy Rojas of the Selectmen said the two boards will meet five days later, on Monday, Nov. 17, in a joint committee to hear from and interview candidates before voting to appoint a new member to fill the vacancy left when Kevin Cunningham resigned earlier this month.

The selected appointee will be sworn in by the Town Clerk Ellen Cushman before the School Committee’s meeting on Nov. 18.

Under state law, the appointee’s term only lasts until the next Town Election; in Belmont that occurs in April, 2015. The person elected for that committee seat will serve a two year term, which is the remainder of Cunningham’s tenure.

Those interested in seeking appointment should write a letter of interest that will include:

  • The reasons for seeking the appointment,
  • Expertise, skills and perspectives they will bring to the committee, and
  • Identify the most pressing issues facing the committee, both through the April election and beyond.

Letters should be sent to:

Cathy Grant

Belmont Public Schools

644 Pleasant St.

Belmont, MA 02478

or via email at:

cgrant@belmont.k12.ma.us

Opinion: Halt the Automatic Gas Tax Hike by Voting ‘Yes’ on 1

By Leave a Comment

Letter to the editor:
Ballot Question 1 offers taxpayers the opportunity to repeal the automatic gas tax, an increase put in place by the Legislature last July while we were enjoying the summer.

This tax is egregious on many fronts. First and foremost, it is a regressive tax, costing the poor, those with less money,  to spend more of their income on getting to and from work. Conversely, our legislators who voted for this tax increase, do not have to pay for their own gas, or the new tax. We pay them to travel to their work through “per diems,” a daily payment for going to their job.

But what makes this tax so insensitive to the people (us) is that the tax is linked to inflation; that means that the tax will go up without our Legislators even having to go to work to vote on it. This tax is automatic every year. It can never go down.

Funding for the advertising of this tax has come from big business, unions and trade associations. We the people/taxpayers are David. Those who might benefit from government spending are Goliath.

Opponents of this initiative will tell you that that we need the $1 billion to be  raised by this tax to pay for roads and bridges. But just in the past two fiscal years, the Commonwealth raised even more than it expected by $1.1 billion for roads and bridges. They have a surplus. They already have enough. But they still want more.

Send a message to greedy legislators. Vote yes on Ballot Question 1. Repeal the automatic gas tax hikes.

Tomi Olson

Bay State Road

Belmont Savings Named Best Commercial RE Lender by Peers

By Leave a Comment

In 2010, the new leadership at Belmont Savings Bank – a small lender with $650 million in assets without much of a business presence in the area – made a decision that the institution’s future would be tied to lending. As larger regional and national banks tightened requirements or simply ignored the mid-sized borrower, Belmont Savings would fill the void by being, as CEO and President Robert “Bob” Mahoney said at the time, “the most admired bank in the Metro West.”

One of those lending area would be commercial real estate; from office space, retail sites and multi-unit housing. In 2011, the bank loaned $9.1 million in construction financing for a 37-unit apartment project, 7 Cameron, in Davis Square, Cambridge. While far from the biggest loan made that year, the bank was willing to work hard to complete the deal.

“[The bank] was a pleasure to work with,” says developer Paul Ognibene, president of Urban Spaces.

“They really took a sensible business approach to the loan,” he said, putting in language in the loan to enable the owner to convert the units to condominiums if the market switch in that favor.

Since then, the bank continues making loans – from a $1.6 million mortgage for a small multi-family on Columbus Avenue in Boston to making a $35 million loan on three office buildings in Waltham – seeing lending growth increase in double digits each year as the bank has doubled in size in less than five years.

That commitment to this core business resulted in the Belmont-based bank winning the “Best Commercial Real Estate Lending” category in Banker & Tradesman’s “Best of 2014” poll.

Banker & Tradesman, New England’s leading real estate and lending business publication, asked leading lenders and real estate pros to choose the best service providers to the real estate and industrial sectors in Massachusetts.

“It is a privilege to be recognized by Banker and Tradesman as their rankings underscore the immense strides we have made in our commercial lending services,” said Mahoney.

“The Best of 2014 distinctions are a clear signal that Massachusetts real estate companies prefer the personalized service offered by Belmont Savings over even some of the nation’s largest financial institutions.”

Earlier this year, Mahoney was honored by the Boston Business Journal as a “most-admired CEO,” an award voted on by BBJ readers in an online poll. The bank has also had recent success increasing its assets twofold over the past three years to $1.2 billion dollars and opening three new in-store branches in Shaw’s supermarkets.

Belmont Savings Bank is a $1.2 billion, full-service Massachusetts savings bank dedicated to quality, convenience and personalized service.

Flash Flood Warning in Belmont Until 10 PM

By Leave a Comment

Just before noon, Thursday, Oct. 16, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for eastern Massachusetts including Belmont as torrential rains are expected to arrive in the area coinciding with the afternoon rush hour.

The warning will continue until 10 p.m.

Bands of heavy rain showers will deliver about one to two inches of rain in the afternoon and early evening, according to the NWS. There is a potential that some localized areas could see three to four inches in a short time period.

Be aware of areas that flood during these weather events. They include the Concord Avenue underpass of the commuter rail bridge in Belmont Center, areas of Waverley Street and along Common Street near the Wellington brook.

Sold in Belmont: An ‘As-Is’ Two-Family Takes Its Time Selling

By Leave a Comment

A weekly recap of residential properties bought in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

For the second week running, only a single house sold in Belmont, according to the MLS.

• 132 Bartlett Ave. Two-family (1925), Sold for: $670,000. Listed at $715,000. Living area: 2,800 sq.-ft. 14 rooms; 5 bedrooms, 2 baths. On the market: 92 days.

The house on Bartlett Avenue – the street was originally named Ripley Road – is a style well known in this area just north of Trapelo Road, the two-family. Second only to the colonial in sheer numbers, two-families were popularized by developers at the turn of the century who subdivided former estates and farmland into smaller, less costly parcels close to the trolley cars that traveled along Trapelo, according to Belmont historian Richard Betts.

Bartlett Avenue was laid out in 1906 by Everett Benton (as in the Benton Library and the former Benton Estate) who divided four existing lots into 13, one of which is the location of 132 Bartlett. The two-family allowed a new generation of middle-class workers to enjoy a suburban lifestyle.

 

Breast Cancer Car Wash Fundraiser This Saturday, Oct. 18

By Leave a Comment

After today’s rainstorm and all the muddy puddles your car will be splashing through, the next step will be finding a place to wash your car. In Belmont, that would be Belmont Car Wash in lovely Waverley Square.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, you can clean your vehicle while supporting Belmont High School’s service club’s fight against breast cancer.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., The Belmontian Club will partner with Belmont Car Wash in its annual fundraiser for Belmont High School’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” team. The club, whose members will be out there drying vehicles, will receive all tips for the day and $1 per car for Belmont Car Wash.

The money raised goes to the American Cancer Society’s efforts for breast cancer research, prevention, education and patient outreach and support

So far this year, the team has raised approximately $6,500 for breast cancer research.

Rain Won’t Stop Today’s Belmont Farmers Market

By Leave a Comment

While rain is on the way, the Belmont Farmers Market will take place today, Thursday, Oct. 16 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Belmont Center municipal parking lot at the corner of Cross Street and Channing Road.

The fall harvest is under way with apples. pears and root vegetables in abundance.

Guest vendors today are Westport Rivers Winery, DC Farm Maple Syrup, Sugar + Grain, Underwood Greenhouse, Seasoned and Spiced, joining the weekly vendors.

There will be no food truck this week.

In the Events Tent

• Face painting for kids and adults with Belmont resident Amber Espar from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

• Storytime in the Events Tent
 will tales about food & farms, for preschool and older children, 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• The Hoot Owls return to play old time string band music, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Cushing Square Developer Seeks Equity Partner, Buyer for Delayed Project

By Leave a Comment

After more than a year of promises and delays, the developer of Cushing Village – the nearly 167,000 square-foot, multi-use development in the heart of Belmont’s Cushing Square – is actively seeking an equity partner or is hoping to sell the project’s development rights to the highest bidder as financial constraints have plaguing the project.

Beginning this month, a big-time Boston commercial real estate search firm hired by Cushing Village’s developer Acton-based Smith Legacy Partners, Inc. has been actively shopping the three-block site to an array of experienced commercial development teams and investors in an attempt to convince one to take on Smith Legacy as a partner, or to purchase the right to build the future home of 115 residential units, 230 parking spaces and nearly 36,000 square feet of retail at the corner of Trapelo Road and Common Street.

In an advertisement distributed to the commercial real estate community, Boston Realty Advisors, the Boylston Street consultancy known for its deal-making prowess, has been or will soon conduct tours of the site – now occupied by abandoned retail and commercial spaces, a laundry and a Starbucks Cafe – as it seeks a “pre-sale or joint venture development opportunity” for the development it describes as “fully permitted and shovel ready.”

Jason Weissman, BRA’s founder and principal, told the “The Real Reporter,” which covers the New England commercial real estate industry, Smith Legacy will seek “creative proposals and will entertain innovative deal structures,” with the opportunity made available “[without] pricing guidance.”

While Chris Starr, the man who has shepherd the project for the past eight years, did not comment, a member of a PR firm working with Smith Legacy was adamant the development will stay with Starr.

“To be clear, Cushing Village is not for sale – Smith Legacy Partners is pursuing partnership opportunities because they realize that others might want to invest in Belmont but there’s no intention to sell the property,” Suzanne Morse, a vice president with O’Neill and Associates wrote in an email.

Yet in its pitch, BRA makes it clear that Cushing Village “represents a rare opportunity to acquire a 163,883 gross square foot mixed-use community, on a pre-sale or joint venture basis, in one of Metro Boston’s most affluent communities.”

Smith Legacy’s apparent need for a partner or buyer would, at first glance, appear unnecessary as the market for mixed-use projects is “ideal” given the advanced recovery is sparking interest in ground-up projects, especially those permitted and ready for launch, one commercial real estate insider told “The Real Reporter.” With interest rates at historic lows, Cushing Village’s residential segment “is especially attractive given the amount of capital chasing that asset class.”

Yet, according to numerous sources within real estate, business and government, the sense Smith Legacy – a first time development team attempting to build a large development – was over-its-head with the development was evident well before the town began the planning process. In the summer of 2011, Starr and his development partner, Cambridge-based Oaktree Development, parted ways, leaving Starr without an experienced hand to reach out to banks, investors and commercial brokers.

“This deal was going south when Oaktree left,” one industry insider told the Belmontonian.

One did not need to scratch the surface very hard to hear reports of Smith Legacy’s difficulties in both securing and then keeping its financing in place. One source indicated Smith Legacy had a tentative financing deal set, but the lender backed out for an unexplained reason.

A lending source told the Belmontonian while many debt providers would listen to the developer’s pitch; none would expand their hand in agreement.

“[Starr] would have placed the biggest sign on the [SS] Pierce Building (the abandoned building where the entry to Cushing Village will be built) announcing the bank doing the deal,” said a person with knowledge of the process. “Do you see one?” they quipped.

Another source said Smith Legacy was caught in a vicious vortex of an inexperienced developer: they lacked the wherewithal to attract financing, and so commercial tenants were leery of committing to long-term leases in a project without financing. Ironically, without tenants, lenders are unwilling to fund a financing deal.

But when Starr received the Planning Board’s final OK to build after a hard-fought design process, all appearance was that Cushing Village would be up and running in record time.

After receiving the Planning Board’s OK in July 2013, Starr announced he would break ground “in a few months” with the first of the three buildings – the “Winslow” which would be located on the municipal parking lot along Trapelo Road and – completed by summer or fall of 2014, with the third building and the parking finished by the spring of 2015.

But other than crews conducting test borings and limited work on preparing the site for development, no activity commenced at the site during the rest of 2014 and into the New Year. Nor would Starr present to town or elected officials a firm financial commitment from an investor or lender.

Suddenly in March, Smith Legacy’s attorney, Mark Donahue, requested the selectmen grant a 30-day extension for the closing date of the purchase and sale agreement for the municipal parking lot until June 27. The pre-approved price for the lot is $850,000.

“We’re working diligently on a number of different fronts,” Donahue told the board, saying Smith Legacy was firming up the Starbucks relocation plans and deciding the site for temporary construction parking. Additionally, Donahue advised the board the construction would “begin between August and October.”

In addition, Donahue sought and was given the right to extend the closing date by 30 days but only by paying the town a $20,000 fee. Since that agreement was in place, Smith Legacy has deposited $80,000 into the town’s coffers.

Starr’s lack of movement on the project had tried the patience of Rojas and the other selectmen who were prepared to set a fall deadline for the municipal lot’s purchase. Only after meetings with town officials was the ultimatum shelved.

This summer, Smith Legacy attempted and failed to convince the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow Starbucks to move from its current location adjacent to the municipal parking lot to a temporary location near the corner of Belmont Street and Trapelo Road.

The future of Smith Legacy holding ownership of the property is not as crystal clear as Starr is telling people. A source told the Belmontonian an established and seasoned development team would not enter into such a deal as a “junior” partner, reducing its involvement to simply being a lender without a say in the development.

This will be at least a 60/40 deal, said a real estate source.

The real value, according to nearly everyone who discussed the project, is in the development rights; the permitting and design agreements with the town.

Smith Legacy’s current predicament – without an finalized financial package, a single new commercial tenant in 14 months (a “tavern” to be managed by a Washington Street resident to open in 2017) and few options – is now being seen as inevitable by many in town.

“This is not a complete surprise,” said Andy Rojas, chair of the Belmont Board of Selectmen who sat on the Planning Board during the majority of the 18 months it took for the town and Starr to cobble together a development deal in July 2013.

“Many involved in the process have for years thought and anticipated that Mr. Starr would need to bring in an experienced equity and development partner,” he said. “I believe that it finally has dawned on Mr. Starr that this is the only way forward for him.”

The need for an experienced hand to build what many would consider a moderate-sized suburban multi-purpose project has become critical in today’s commercial environment said one real estate observer.

“I think a lot of the reasons have to do with lenders being more demanding of higher-equity levels in a project and the developer either finds selling out a better route or if they want to stay in, they can spread the risk some and or use that capital for something else,” said Joseph Clements, founder and editor of the “The Real Reporter”, which covers the New England commercial real estate industry.