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December 23, 2004

City plans to move offices to Dudley Square building

Yawu Miller

Developer Toula Politas spent much of last Thursday posting flyers on her building denouncing the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s eminent domain taking of the Ferdinand building her family owns.

“I’ve had better days,” an exasperated Politas said as a police cruiser idled in front of the five-story former furniture store. Across the street, one of Menino’s aides stood clutching a cell phone to his ear while city workers began setting up a for press conference on a nearby vacant lot.

While an earlier press conference denouncing the eminant domain taking brought out city councilors Maura Hennigan and Chuck Turner and a dozen or so community activists, Menino’s press conference brought in virtually every black city official and dozens of black Menino supporters to lend support to the mayor’s move to relocate key city services in Dudley Square.

Both Politas and developer Kenneth Guscott, who owns a second building on the site, say they heard about the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s eminant domain taking in the daily newspapers.

Menino’s plan calls for the BRA to pay fair market value for the buildings and the vacant lot between them, which Politas owns, then sell the land to a developer who will transform them into a seven-story office building which will house the school department and the Boston Housing Authority.

Menino described the land taking as the fulfillment of a promise he and Governor Paul Cellucci made in 1997 to redevelop the Ferdinand buildings. At that time, Menino and the Republican governor pledged to bring the state’s Department of Public Health to the building. Local business activists hailed the move as a potential boon to the long-struggling commercial district.

The project was tied to the redevelopment of the Modern Electroplating Plant site, where a parking garage and office building complex was to be developed. Those plans were put on hold as the Ferdinand building’s redevelopment stalled through the duration of the administrations of governors Cellucci and Jane Swift.

When Governor Mitt Romney was elected, he balked at the proposed DPH merger, effectively killing the project.

In the mean time, Politas and Guscott say, they began separately pursuing other development options.

Earlier this year, the BRA board voted to authorize the agency to take the building. Details of the plans were not made public, however, until last week when the Boston Globe reported that Menino planned to sell the 26 Court Street building currently housing the school department and the Department of Neighborhood Development.

The $65 million Menino says the city will net from the sale of 26 Court Street will be used for the redevelopment of the Ferdinand buildings.

As evidenced by the earlier press conference denouncing the land taking, Menino’s announcement, made during a Chamber of Commerce breakfast, generated controversy in the black community. The Dudley Square Main Streets Association board, which includes many area business owners and activists, was evenly split between those favoring the BRA land taking and those opposed.

Chatting with Menino before last week’s press conference began, Madison Park Community Development Corporation Executive Director Jeanne Pinado said the move would boost development in Dudley Square.

“This is the best thing that’s happened in Dudley,” Pinado said. “If Madison Park had this building for as many years as the private owners had it, there would be a public outcry.”

Pinado told the Banner the Ferdinand building, which has been boarded up since the late 1970s, has long been a deterrent to development in Dudley.

“Every time I bring in a potential retail tenant, they all ask the same question — what’s going on with the building?” she said. “The next question is what’s going on with crime?”

Opponents of the BRA’s land taking complain that the move was made with no community input and was unfair to the developers, each of whom says they were pursuing their own development plans for their respective buildings.

“I appreciated the willingness of the mayor to use city resources to move development forward in Dudley Square,” Councilor Turner said during the earlier press conference. “His willingness to assist is critically important since the buildings have been vacant for decades.

“However, I am very disturbed that the mayor is moving forward without consultation with the owners of the buildings.”

Turner said he, state Rep. Gloria Fox and state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson met over the summer with BRA Director Mark Maloney and Menino to work on a strategy to develop the Ferdinand buildings. Turner said he repeatedly asked Maloney to meet with the owners of the buildings. As recently as two weeks ago, Maloney agreed to meet with the owners, but failed to do so before the announcement, according to Turner.

Turner, an outspoken critic of the BRA, also opposes the agency’s authority to take land by eminent domain.

Menino argued that the developers have been unwilling or unable to develop the properties which they have owned for years.

“We want to take action,” he told the Banner. “We have the resources to get this done. When you see a project of this significance lying fallow, you have to step in.”

Menino also said bringing city agencies to Dudley Square demonstrates his commitment to decentralizing city services.

“We’re bringing the services out to the neighborhoods.”

Speaking on behalf of the Main Streets Association, Executive Director Joyce Stanley said the new development would give the local business community a chance to develop new relationships with city agencies. She also called on the city to take in community input on the project. She asked that the developers make space for retail on the ground floor and give local residents a shot at business ownership.

 

 

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