Town Meeting Amendment Challenges Belmont Center Project Financing Plan

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Special Town Meeting just got a whole lot more interesting.

Rather than the option of simply accepting or rejecting the financing plan for the $2.8 million Belmont Center Reconstruction Project, the 290 Town Meeting Members now have an alternative to the town-created “free cash” proposal.

Read the project’s highlights here

James Williams of Glenn Road and Precinct 1 submitted an amendment to the Belmont Center warrant article that will be brought before the Special Town Meeting on Monday, Nov. 17 to bond the entire $2.8 million project using a traditional sale of a bond to be paid out of the general fund.

Under the plan submitted in the article, the town proposes to finance the project in two steps; an initial downpayment from the town’s free cash account – sometimes referred to as the town’s “savings account” – of $1.3 million and then issuing a $1.5 million, 15-year bond which will be paid for over the term of the debt from free cash.

Read about the unique way the town will pay for project here.

“Free cash” is typically actual town receipts in excess of revenue estimates and unspent amounts in departmental budget line-items at the end of the fiscal year, plus the unexpended free cash from the previous year.

Last week, the state’s Department of Revenue certified Belmont’s free cash amount at $7,465,000, an increase of $1.3 million from the previous fiscal year.

For Williams and others who both support and are opposed to the project, using the town’s “savings” to finance a capital project that will benefit the residents over many years is not the proper use of the funds.

“Belmont is arguably in serious financial difficulty due in large part to actions taken or not taken by previous and current administrations,” said Williams in an email to the Belmontonian.
Pointing to areas of financial concern such as the millions owed in health care obligations to retired town employees and the lack of financing standard town amenities such as sidewalks and road, “[basically], we are living beyond our means and we are making commitments we can’t keep,” said Williams.
For Williams and others, using “free” cash would be just another example of fiscal irresponsibility by town officials.
“[T]he only responsible thing to do is to issue debt for the entire amount so the so-called “free cash” can be used for existing obligations and the center can be funded by new money,” said Williams.
“Since the Center is not a ‘must have’ project, it should be voted up or down on this point,” said Williams, who will “stand against” the project unless it was fully funded.

At a warrant briefing earlier this month which reviewed the articles on the Special Town Meeting, town officials said the current plan “strike a balance” in using town’s savings so it can bond a smaller portion of the project.

Belmont Town Administrator David Kale said if the entire project is bonded, the town would pay $320,000 in the first year, as opposed to the $168,000 in the first year under the current proposal.

Duty, Honor, Country: Schools Salute Vets in Remembrance Observances

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The Chenery Middle School Wind Band played patriotic music, the chorus sang the “National Anthem” and several students made speeches and recited poems to their classmates and the two dozen men – many slowed with age – sitting on chairs on the side of the stage.

They were an array of armed forces veterans from Belmont and surrounding communities, coming to the school as the living embodiment of the commitment and sacrifice they gave to the country.

The school-wide assembly, held on Monday, Nov. 10 in the Chenery auditorium, is an annual commemoration of the service of all veterans and those currently in uniform.

“I want to thank all of you for showing up today because twice a year, we feel like rock stars,” said Kip Gaudet, commander of Belmont’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Trapelo Road.

“We come here to represent those who can’t be here, who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we enjoy today,” said Gaudet, who was awarded a bronze star for “heroic or meritorious achievement or service” as a radio man in Vietnam.

Chenery’s Principal Kristen St. George advised students to take a moment on the holiday to personally reach out and thank a veteran “for their contribution … for fighting for things that are important to us and our country.”

St. George read the names of veterans with a connection to the “Chenery community” and for the student to simply “listen and to reflect.” Included in the names were of Chenery teacher Ryan Schmitt and Army Spc. Jonathan Curtis, an alumni who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Gaudet read the names of the veterans who stood to receive the applause from the auditorium, including Frank Morrissey, a 96-year-old vet from the US Navy.

“Hopefully these events reminds the students of freedom’s cost,” said Gaudet after the service, before leaving with his fellow veterans for visits at the Butler and Winn Brook elementary schools before a lunch at the VFW post.

“The veterans get appreciated for their service and the kids learn something, so this morning is like a two-way street,” he said.

The highlight of the ceremony was the reading and a musical rendition of the poem, “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian Lt. Col. John McCrae who wrote the poem on May 3, 1915, moments after presiding over the funeral of his friend, Alexis Helmer.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.”

Curtain Raises on Performing Arts Company’s ‘Twelfth Night’ Tonight

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The curtain goes up tonight, Thursday, Nov. 6 on the Performing Arts Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” a comedy about a cross-dressing, ship-wreck surviving, poetry-loving girl who finds herself at the center of a not-so-average love triangle.

The production, produced and directed by Ezra Flam, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium.

The play will also be staged on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7 and 8, at 7 p.m. 

Tickets are adults: $12 in advance/$15 at the door; students: $10.

Tickets are available online and at Champions Sports in Belmont Center.

Chenery 8th Grade Students: reserve a free ticket when you order online using coupon code: CMS8. Belmont Schools Staff: reserve a free ticket online with coupon code BPSSTAFF or by e-mailing tickets@bhs-pac.org 

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Benefit Provides A Shoe Box Full of Hope for Gerry

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Anne Marie Picone came straight from her second job to Conley’s Pub and Grille on the Watertown side of Belmont Street.

The Belmont resident wasn’t there to watch Monday Night Football or grab a beer.

She came for Gerry.

“My first job ever was working at CVS (in Belmont Center) so I always cut through Champions. I’d always see Gerry and he was absolutely fantastic,” said Picone, describing Gerry Dickhaut, the long-time owner of Champions Sports Goods on Leonard Street.

So when she heard on Facebook Monday that Dickhaut had lost his house to an electrical fire last week, she immediately decided to stop by a benefit Dickhaut’s friends quickly assembled at Conley’s.

“I wanted to make sure I got to donate. Gerry’s a great guy,” she said.

Picone was just one of hundreds of residents, fellow business owners and people who Dickhaut got to know over the years who stopped by to place a donation into an athletic shoe box near the pub’s entry.

Tim Graham, who along with Andrew McLaughlin organized the benefit, opened the box to show it  jam-packed with gift cards, checks, packages and cash, all for a man that many are calling a community asset.

“The turn out was absolutely amazing. It’s a Monday night and the place was packed all evening. The generosity was stunning,” said Graham.

According to residents, the money will go to help Dickhaut replace household and personal items destroyed in the fire as well as help pay for living arrangements for the next five months while the house is being restored.

Graham, who like so many other young people worked for Dickhaut while he was at Belmont High School and after college, said he heard a few days ago of Dickhaut’s misfortune “and Gerry is an amazing man who has done so much in the community that we just wanted to do something, anything for him.”

Graham said he couldn’t even make a “guest-imate” of the total contributed, “but I have seen some of the amounts that people have donated and it really is overwhelming.”

“I’m sure Gerry will be blown away. While he’s a very generous person, he’s also quite private so he might feel a bit awkward accepting this. But he’ll be amazed that so many people are thinking of him,” said Graham.

Former Macy’s Landlord Reveals A Peek at the Site’s Future

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Don’t expect big changes to the outside of the former Macy’s/Filene’s Belmont Center location over the next year; the excitement will be left for what will go inside, according to the landlord of the property who revealed just a bit of the site’s future Thursday night.

Locatelli Properties’s Kevin Foley and his colleague, Len Simons, held a public meeting on Oct. 30, at Belmont Town Hall to preview their presentation to the Belmont Zoning Board of Appeals as they seek three special permits to allow “minor” alterations to the building.

If everything goes to plan, retailers and restaurants at new site – without a name for now – will open for business by the spring of 2016.

The presentation before the ZBA will be held on Monday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Belmont Gallery of Art, on the third floor of the Homer Building in the Belmont Town Hall complex.

After the renovation work is completed, the site – located at the corner of Alexander and Leonard streets  –  will have approximately 48,000 sq.-ft. of commercial space available to lease, said Foley.

Since the late 60s, the building has “not been touched so it needs to be updated to bring back ‘zip’ to the Center,” Simons said of the commercial space leased to Filene’s from May 1941 to September 2006 when Macy’s bought Filene’s. Macy’s closed in January 2013.

Belmont-based Locatelli will seek ZBA permission on Monday, Nov. 3, to build a new vestibule off the parking-lot side of the building where the stairs to the women’s department was located, the installation of accessibility ramps and an elevator at the rear of the building, a renovated entryway and a new roof system on the Leonard Street side. In addition, windows will be installed and new entry ways created along Leonard Street.

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“We need to include an elevator as we are required to make all floors accessible to the law,” said Simons.

In addition to accessibility features, a new office space of about 600 sq.-ft will be constructed on the top floor.

Simons said the renovations will have no effect on the number of parking spaces in the Locatelli parking lot or in vehicle traffic patterns.

“We believe the improvements for access purposes will support our efforts to bring a mix of quality retailers to the Leonard Street area,” said a written press release handed out at the meeting.

“Once Locatelli has obtained the necessary permits, we will be able to pursue potential tenants and regenerate retail activity in Belmont Center,” said the statement.

“We anticipate two large tenants and four to five smaller ones, like those down [Leonard] street,” said Foley, who doesn’t expect one retailer to take both floors “because that’s a challenge for a retailer.”

The tenants will work with Locatelli on dividing up the interior to best utilize the space.

While Foley appeared hesitant to add another bank branch in the Center, he said just about any business would be considered.

“As long as they are high quality,” said Foley, including national retailers, existing businesses and restaurants.

“I think a mix of restaurants and retail would be the best for [foot] traffic in the day and the evening,” said Foley.

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Town Proposes Using Free Cash Twice to Pay for Belmont Center Project

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Town Meeting members will be asked next month to dip twice into the town’s “savings” account to pay for the long-awaited facelift of Belmont Center’s traffic and parking design.

Under a proposal derived by town officials and Belmont’s Treasurer Floyd Carman who presented the plan to the Belmont Board of Selectmen Wednesday, Oct. 29, the now $2.8 million construction project set to reshape the roadways and parking in and around Belmont Center will be paid for using the town’s “free cash” as both a downpayment and then dipping into the account over 15 years to pay for the remaining debt, said David Kale, Belmont’s town administrator.

Free cash is unspent money remaining at the end of the fiscal year including from budget line-items and any greater than expected tax or fee receipts.

If approved by a majority of members of the Special Town Meeting on Nov. 17, $1.3 million will be taken from free cash as a one-time lump sum payment. The remaining $1,475,000 will be raised by selling 15-year bonds,

But rather then ask voters to approve a debt exclusion as has happened in the past with large capital expenditures, Belmont will take the unprecedented step of using free cash make the bond repayment over the life of the bond.

While the state’s Department of Revenue has not certified the amount Belmont has for free cash, Carman said free cash came in at $6.2 million in fiscal 2015.

Carman said the town will take approximately $169,000 from the free cash account in fiscal 2017 to pay both the interest and principal of the note. The payments will then decrease in subsequent years until there is a final payment of just under $100,000 in fiscal 2032.

Andy Rojas, Selectmen chair, told members of the Warrant and Capital Budget committees that the town hopes to have the project out to bid in January and have work completed by October. He also said the Special Town Meeting will only take up the project’s expenditure plan, “we are not opening up the project’s design for discussion.”

“[Town Meeting] is about funding, not to discuss every crosswalk or bump out,” Rojas reiterated.

While Kale is known for reminding residents, town officials and Town Meeting members that “free cash is not free” – any reduction in the account must be restored in the next year’s budget – both he and Carman believe free cash is strong enough position to sustain payments over the next decade and a half.

“We’re looking at a healthy free cash and the opportunity is there to utilize the low-interest rates,” said Carman.

Saying that he has heard some residents being critical of the town not utilizing the millions in the account, Carman told the Belmontonian “here’s an opportunity to use the savings constructively.”

Using the town’s savings account will also lessen the burden on the town’s debt service now hovering just over $5.1 million in fiscal 2015.
“Rather than burden taxpayers of 2015 to pay for this debt, we are spreading out the obligation to residents over the 15 years of the bond,” said Carman.

Carman also noted the town in the next few years will likely be asked to fund a new Belmont High School for between $60 to $100 million.

“We don’t want to add anymore debt to the books with that looming,” he said.

Paying the interest and principal of the $1,450,000 (the actual amount could be less once the engineering blueprints are completed, said Rojas) would be the second specific expense that will be paid by free cash. Last year, Town Meeting approved spending approximately $240,000 annually in other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, payments to a nearly $180 million unfunded obligation.

In recent years, the town has transferred approximately $2 million from free cash at the beginning of the budget cycle to pay for town and school expenses, filling a shortfall in local aid from the state legislature.

The town will also create a Capital Project Debt Stabilization Fund to pay down existing obligations.

The new stabilization account – to be approved by Town Meeting – will be funded with one-time payments to the town. Kale said this would include the sale of town-owned property such as the long-awaited purchase for $850,000 of the municipal parking lot at Cushing Square as part of the delayed Cushing Village project and the increasingly doubtful Woodfall Road luxury housing development.

Which of the current debt obligations could be reduced by the stabilization fund “will be part of a group discussion,” said Rojas.

When asked why this project is being given priority over six large capital projects – including a new police station and refurbishing the Viglirolo Skating rink – Rojas said the others have not begun the detailed process of design and planning.

“Why we are doing this is because it’s ready,” said Rojas, adding the reconstruction will increase business and economic development to the business center of town.

Judge Lifts Silver Maple Injunction as Work Resumes at Belmont Uplands

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Less than 24 hours after initially granting an injunction halting the developer of the proposed 299-unit “Residences at Acorn Park” apartment complex from clearing land in Belmont’s Uplands, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Rosalind Miller vacated the stay on O’Neill Properties’ work in removing vegatation and trees in preparation of possible construction.

Miller’s ruling, on Tuesday Oct. 21, allowed work crews utilizing heavy equipment and chainsaws to resume the process of clearing the eight-acre site that began last week at the Silver Maple Forest parcel off Frontage Road on the Cambridge town line.

In her ruling, provided by the Superior Court, Miller wrote the plaintiffs – 14 Belmont members of the Coalition to Preserve Belmont Uplands who filed a request for the injunction on Oct. 13 – failed to show “irreparable harm” to their cause “in absence of an injunction.” In addition, Miller said the plaintiffs had “failed to disclose the seven year history of unsuccessful litigation regarding this development of an affordable housing project.” 

The rulings came after a week of civil disobediance in which 13 protesters have been arrest by Belmont Police at the site.

Miller’s complete judgement is below:

After review and hearing on 10/16/14, the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction is DENIED. To obtain the extraordinary relief of an injunction, the plaintiffs must prove: (1) without the relief sought, plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm; (2) there is a likelihood of success on the merits of this case; and (3) any harm to the plaintiffs would outweigh the harm which the injunctive relief would inflict on the defendants. John T. Callahan & Sons, Inc. v. City of Malden, 430 Mass. 124 (1999). Plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of this case and a substantial risk of irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction. The court declines to impose sanctions on the plaintiffs for their failure to disclose the seven year history of unsuccessful litigation regarding this development of an affordable housing project. The previous temporary restraining order issued on 10/20/14, is hereby vacated. SO ORDERED. (Rosalind H. Miller, Justice, Dated: 10/21/14)

 

Judge’s Injunction Halts Uplands Tree Clearing After Morning of Arrests

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Someone was listening to the Lorax … for now.

Hours after four protesters were arrested Monday morning, Oct. 20, at the proposed site of a 299-unit residential complex on the Cambridge line, a Middlesex Superior Court judge filed an emergency restraining order to halt pre-construction clearing of a portion of the Silver Maple Forest in Belmont until she can rule on a complaint from 14 Belmont residents who are members of the Coalition to Preserve Belmont Uplands.

Justice Rosalind Miller’s single-page injunction temporarily halts trees being cut and removed from the 15 acre forest  located off Acorn Park Road, which is connected to Belmont via Frontage Road adjacent to Route 2. The judgement is directed at O’Neill Properties, the Philadelphia-based real estate firm behind the development dubbed the Residences at Acorn Park.

The complaint contends the site developer, Cambridge Partners II, is pushing aside regulations required by the Clean Water Act and the Belmont Stormwater Bylaw.

The ruling, while temporary, is a victory for environmental groups and Chilton Street resident Anne-Marie Lambert who has advocated that the residential development will increase the likelihood of serious flooding in surrounding communities such as northeastern Belmont, Cambridge’s Alewife and east Arlington due to the developer’s use of outdated climate reports in addition to destroying a nature sanctuary.

(Lambert will give a talk this Sunday on the history of the Uplands hosted by the Belmont Historical Society.)

Miller’s ruling came after a third round of arrests took place at the site as a quartet of protesters, including Lesley University Biology Professor Amy Mertl, who made a presentation to the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, Oct. 14, on the economic impact on Belmont town finances if the development is constructed.

Belmont Police report that 13 people have been taken into custody since the first arrests on Monday, Oct. 13. They were charged with trespassing.

Monday’s protest occurred along Acorn Park Road adjacent to crews using chain saws and large earth-moving equipment to clear vegetation and remove trees.

“Oh!” several of the 60 protesters loudly moaned when a 50-foot Silver Maple fell to the ground as a young man read passages from Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax” – which several people repeated – and a graduate student argued loudly with the private security guards.

Quinton Zondervan, president of Green Cambridge, said the week-long direct action by various groups was occurring “since the developer doesn’t have a building permit, but they have already started cutting trees.”

Ellen Mass, founder of Friends of the Alewife Reservation who was arrested last week, said “this awful crime we are witnessing is quite beyond the pale because they did most of their cutting of these trees just as the Coalition [to Preserve Belmont Uplands] filed the injunction. They did this on purpose during the weekend before the judge had an opportunity to rule.”

For others, the protest was an opportunity to show solidarity to what they view is an important piece of the local environment.

“We want to save the forest,” said Leyli Lopez, who came with her mother, Nicole Weber, who works at Leslie University.

“I’ve gotten to know about this issue through my colleagues Amy [Mertl]. I use this area, and I didn’t even know this was happening,” said Weber.

While the possible environmental repercussions on surrounding communities has been well noted by development opponents, the impact of 300 units of housing on both Belmont’s general government and school budgets “is significant and worrying,” said Belmont Selectman Mark Paolillo at Tuesday’s meeting.

Included in the Coalition’s complaint is the Belmont Office of Community Development, which would issue the critical building permit to O’Neill which will be located on eight acres of the site.

Last week, Community Development Director Glenn Clancy said he could not comment on the complaint filed last Monday.

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

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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

Cushing Square Developer Seeks Equity Partner, Buyer for Delayed Project

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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.