A proposal to develop a long-empty “Pit” has returned to Somerville’s Teele Square, now a political issue in City Council elections for a neighborhood eager to see improvement after years of frustration.
Plans for a 75-room hotel approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals in 2018 didn’t come together despite excavation being announced in 2022. Updated plans for the site shown at a May 28 public meeting with property manager Binoj Pradhan and then-Ward 7 councilor Judy Pineda Neufeld show an expansion to eight stories from six, now with 99 rooms, valet parking and ground- and top-floor restaurants.
“With the increased cost of land and construction, unfortunately the only direction to go to make these projects viable often is vertically,” said Will Chalfant of Khalsa Design. The architectural firm is working with Anuj Pradhan and the 1154 Broadway Realty Trust, the property’s owners since 2015. The Pradhans are brothers.
The hotel would be “backed by Hilton” but be a “boutique hotel,” Chalfant said.
Documentation has been submitted to reinitiate the permitting process; a presubmittal meeting will be scheduled, likely followed by a formal application, the owners said.
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25991415-250704i-teele-square-hotel-may-28-meeting/?embed=1
Permitting needs to start anew due to expiry of the site’s existing foundation permit, said Tom Galligani, executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Strategic and Community Development. He estimated a six- to 12-month permitting process; Chalfant estimated 18 months for construction.
The “Teele Square Pit,” actually now a fenced-in field of gravel, has been vacant at 1154-1164 Broadway since a 2011 fire tore through the site. At the time of purchase, Binoj Pradhan – also listed alongside Anuj Pradhan on recent Zoning Board of Appeals documents – financed the project with an $800,000 mortgage. A month later, the mortgage was discharged and a second mortgage with the East Boston Savings Bank was recorded for $2.5 million.
Teele Square residents spoke at the meeting to urge development at the parcel. “If we do not as a community of Ward 7 put pressure on elected officials and city civil servants to fast track a building that is in my mind 14-and-a-half years dry, then we are at fault as business owners in the square and residents in the square,” said Conor Brennan, who owns the nearby restaurant and bar PJ Ryan’s.
Political candidate’s concerns
Frustration with the project’s stagnation is not new. Teele Square resident Michael Murray is running for Ward 7 councilor based on a desire to speed along development at The Pit.
Emily Hardt and Wilbert Pineda are also running for the Ward 7 seat. Pineda Neufeld stepped down from the position Monday, before the end of her term, and is not running again.
In a candidate forum hosted by the Ward 7 Democratic Committee on June 18, Murray raised concerns about the role of political donations in the project’s stagnation. He noted that Binoj Pradhan is a member of the Ward 7 committee and has donated large sums to Pineda Neufeld.
“So other things that are facts – and I just want to report facts – is that, you know, Binoj is a member of this very democratic committee that’s hosting this event. He’s maxed out his donations to Judy Pineda Neufeld and other people,” Murray said.
“I don’t really imagine that people are making deals behind closed doors … but I do see kind of the incentives at play,” Murray later told Cambridge Day. The donations and lack of movement on The Pit make a “discouraging” combination, he said.
Pineda Neufeld rejected the idea of wrongdoing. “It’s deeply disappointing – and frankly disrespectful to voters – to see this kind of baseless insinuation being made. Suggesting that a campaign donation somehow caused delays in a development project is not only false, it’s harmful. It spreads misinformation, erodes public trust and reveals a troubling lack of understanding about how city government and permitting processes actually work. Anyone running for office has a responsibility to speak truthfully and do their homework,” she said.
State donation data
Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance data shows Binoj made two $1,000 donations to Pineda Neufeld in 2021 and 2023, the most a person may donate to one candidate in a calendar year under OCPF rules.
Binoj is shown to have contributed more than $12,000 to various candidates since buying the Teele Square parcel in 2015. This includes $5,500 to mayor Katjana Ballantyne as far back as 2018, when Ballantyne was Ward 7 councilor. Three payments, occurring in 2020, 2022 and 2023 are marked by the OCPF as refunded.
Brother Anuj has made $1,435 in political contributions since the parcel’s purchase date to Ballantyne.
The Ballantyne team was contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.
In a conversation with Cambridge Day, a member of the property’s management team – who insisted on not being named – also rejected the idea that there had been malfeasance. They said that they feel bad at having no progress to report to Neufeld and Ballantyne over the past years, but that both had been helpful. (Councilor at-large Kristen Strezo will take over for her on Pit development, Pineda Neufeld said May 28.)
Waits for construction drawings, an electrical plan and a year-and-a-half-long inspection process slowed progress on the site. Banks lost their appetite for hotel financing during the Covid pandemic, and management was unable to secure additional funding, the source said, though they indicated that conversations with banks had restarted.
Possible soil contamination
The possibility of contaminated soil has been another factor in development at the site of the former Teele Square Laundromat.
An environmental assessment was conducted in October 2015, a month before the Pradhan family bought the site. It indicated that a history of dry cleaning chemicals used at the site and signs of observation wells – indicating an earlier environmental assessment had been made – were cause for concern. “The potential exists for contamination to be present” in groundwater and soil, the report says.
The assessment’s Phase I review was based mainly on visual and historical analysis. Under state law, if a risk of contamination is identified, a Phase II assessment with environmental testing generally follows.
Environmental issues had not delayed development at The Pit, property managers said: There’s been no Phase II assessment due to lack of project funds. The tests would be done after bank funding was secured, then any needed remediation if the soil is contaminated, they said.
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Michael Murray here, Ward 7 city council candidate. Response to Judy Pineda Neufeld: I did my homework, that’s how I found that Binoj Pradhan had maxed out his donations to you for both of your ward 7 city council elections. I speak truthfully when I say that I find the combination of political donations and lack of progress on the pit during your city council term to be discouraging. I have not heard any voters suggest they feel disrespected by my finding and speaking these facts.
Sounds like Pineda Neufeld had at very least a potential conflict of interest that she did not disclose or recuse herself for and simply does not appreciate having exposed.
The idea that holding politicians accountable for how campaign contributions influence decisions is disrespectful to voters is actually disrespectful to voters… Perhaps it erodes trust because she doesn’t deserve it?
This great – has anyone else noticed how absurdly expensive hotels are in the area? Low supply, high demand. Apartments would probably be a better fit in this particular location, though.