JPI of Texas, whose local office is in Southboro, had 1000 apartments scheduled to be built in Massachusetts; a good chunk were “affordable housing.”
In Arlington, the Town bought the land and buildings of the former Symmes Hospital, which had closed due to the way policy decisions and reimbursement rates have affected community hospitals. The town of Arlington put $12,000,000.00 into the purchase, believing that the money would be made back, with more, through real estate taxes. According to Arlington’s director of planning:
Arlington voters approved a $14 million Proposition 2 debt-exclusion override in 2002 to buy the former Symmes Hospital. JPI had demolished five townhouse buildings on the 18-acre site, installed utilities and paved the road to make way for the mixed-use development.
“We spent lots of money to get the hospital site to the point where we could sell it, and we expected to pay off the debt with real estate taxes generated by the new develpement,” said Kevin O’Brien, Arlington’s director of planning and community development. “So it’s a bit of a problem for us now.”
Arlington put in the utilities, took down buildings, got the site “shovel ready.” And then the credit crunch hit. To quote the developer, JPI:
JPI, one of the nation’s largest multifamily developers with local offices in Southboro, has told officials in Arlington and Ashland and Chelsea that projects in the pipeline totaling more than $200 million will have to wait until the financial markets open up.
“It’s a tremendously difficult credit environment to get construction loans,” said Thomas O’Brien, JPI’s Northeast managing partner.
How about some federal “stimulus funds” for this shovel ready project? I drive by it every day. Just blowing dirt, and a fence, where a hospital and Arlington’s largest employer once stood.
A local website, YourArlington.com has some great pictures of the demolition of the former tuberculosis sanitorium and hospital at: http://www.yourarlington.com/j… [If one of the tech wizards wants to embed these – well, my thanks to you.]
At any event, for more about JPI and the several “shovel ready projects” that would employ Massachusetts workers and create Massachusetts housing – if only banks hadn’t yanked credit, and if only the money given to banks was leading to renwed normal business lending:
http://www.bostonherald.com/bu…
If there are legislators or members of the Governor’s staff reading this, how about getting credit back in place for JPI? THAT would bring at least some jobs our way – shovel ready!
… decidedly limited, I do not believe that the Town of Arlington has applied for any stimulus funds for the Symmes project. I did not see it on a list issued by the town manager in January and a subsequent one in February.
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p>I think we have to see how the Obama stimulus package affecting bank credit works this year.
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p>Bob Sprague
The new link to the YourArlington story is http://www.yourarlington.com/j…
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p>It is expected to grow as more comments are reported from town officials.
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p>I should also add that I agree the project should pursue stimulus funding.
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p>Bob Sprague
These stalled projects, ready to go, are prime for stimulus funding, classic for it:
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p>1. They would immediately put people to work.
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p>2. They would assist local suppliers of everything from lumber to sandwiches.
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p>3. The need for housing is critical in our densely-populated area.
This is not a public project like a bridge repair or a new sewer line. Would the state loan funds to JPI? By what legal authority could this be accomplished?
Should stimulus funds go to private developers at all?
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p>I mean, there’s stuff in the bill they cold use. Stick some solar on the project and get a tax credit, etc.
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p>But should we just hand out bucks to developers because there’s insufficient market demand for a project? Seems like a bad idea to me.
One of the goals of the “stimulus” program was to give financial ex-lax to the constipated, clenched credit market.
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p>Duh. Not to have federal tax money [read our kids inheritance] given as largesse to financial Trolls who had robbed us blind already.
The real estate development business is MY business (30+ years) so I’m the expert.
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p>Do progressives think that a bit of public financing magically makes projects economically viable on their own?
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p>Apparently. I laugh at Debbie’s contention that the “need for housing is critical in our densely-populated area.” Really? If this were true, and a project’s financial return was attractive, say 15% to 20%, funding would be available (especially with Treasury rates <1%.) But those returns are unattainable because of general economic conditions.
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p>Debbie’s solution? Why, steer some stimulus moola to the project!
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p>This is why government spending is so wasteful: capital is deployed on the basis of politics, not sound finance, and so Kerry and Capuano call the shots with total disregard for return on investment for the taxpayer.
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p>Millions are pissed away in an under- or non-performing, shovel-ready white elephant, but the guy selling the sandwiches makes out.
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p>2. It was a bank that yanked the credit – and rather than saying stimulus “money”, a use of guarentee/guarantor to move credit where it should be – Main Street – for this project and others. Good Times Billiards WAS profitable – with zero credit available, and banks waltzing away from their word, all of Main Street is at risk.
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p>3. Arlington is one of the towns that has held value – and in our town, there IS a shortage of housing.
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p>Maybe, Sheppie-poo you are – IF you are telling the truth [which from your tone and content I have a basis to doubt] you are totally unfamiliar with THIS town and THIS market?
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p>Maybe, too, you prefer all of your tax dollars to be pitched into the Dark Hole of AIG, rather than [relatively] safely used as a guarentor in a basically healthy market and for immediate construction jobs?
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p>Oh – wait – you don’t care about jobs or working people. I forgot. You only care about bankers. Right.
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p>Well, you may look down your looooooooooooooong condescending Sheppie Snout at me, but you are totally unconvincing and really do sound ignorant – at least to me. As well as condescending! I hope you can take it with the same verve you dish it out. I can, for sure.