Davis Square community and business leaders said they are taking a wait-and-see approach to a suit filed against Copper Mill developer Andrew Flynn on another project.
“People will jump on any reputational thing and say, ‘see, they’re horrible’, but we’re just waiting to hear more at the moment,” said Christopher Beland, vice president of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council (DSNC), which has served as a forum for community feedback and negotiations over a community benefits agreement (CBA) with Copper Mill.
The DSNC has not taken a position on the development. Its president, Elaine Almquist, said the council is still gathering input from residents and local business owners before determining what to pursue in negotiations.
“The major concern we have is that there are suspicions on the legitimacy of information that is being shared by our discussion partner, Copper Mill,” said Almquist, noting that several questions forwarded or asked by the council have gone unanswered.
Beland added that even for “simple questions” like “how many apartments will be wheelchair accessible” responses were sometimes less than satisfactory.
Still, overall they praised Copper Mill for being generally forthcoming and for some of the commitments the firm has made, like using an entirely union workforce during construction. Beland said Copper Mill was “definitely not the ideal developer, which for many would be a non-profit that’s going to do 100% affordable housing. But at the end of the day, we have to negotiate with them whether or not they are trustworthy, and then we’ll have a legally binding contract with verification.”
Beland said the majority of other feedback and concerns the council has received has focused on the physical dimensions of the building. Some residents have questioned the financial feasibility of the project.
Flynn did not reply to a request for comment.
Both Almquist and Beland expressed surprise that MassHousing said Copper Mill was no longer under active review. Copper Mill had applied for funding through the agency as a 40B project. They believed the application was still pending before the agency.
Somerville YIMBY, a pro-housing advocacy group that supports the development, said the suit was “certainly not a good look.” But it noted that the process to develop the Davis Square project was in “its opening phase.”
Flynn “should get his ducks in order with the agreements he has made in the past,” said Jason Zube, owner of the Boston Tattoo Company, which has a popular location in Davis Square. He said the suit will “definitely raise some skepticism.”
Zube has participated in discussions with Copper Mill as a member of the DSNC’s Community Benefits Committee for the project, helping to negotiate the project’s CBA.
He would like to see “something developed” in the planned project area, which spans 231-249 Elm Street and 6-8 & 12 Grove Street, saying he would prefer “anything other than a bunch of closed doors there.”
His own business, located at 260 Elm Street, is not in the planned development zone. However, it does sit within Asana Partners’ stalled “7th Spoke” redevelopment project, across the street from the Copper Mill site.
The lag in both projects have slowed investment in the area, said Zube. “If you’re a business like mine, you don’t want to be signing a lease for a building that’s only going to be around for a year or two, having to put a lot of money into it to get it up to code.”
DSNC president Almquist said she was “deeply concerned about the negotiation stalling to the point that the building falls into such disrepair that we have a large chunk of Elm Street with no small businesses or anything functional.”
Among the businesses located within Copper Mill’s planned development zone, only the owners of The Burren offered an immediate response to the suit against Flynn. Longtime local restauranteur Tommy McCarthy, said simply that he will pay his rent to Copper Mill if it takes over the location.
McCarthy co-owns the bar with his wife Louise Costello. They currently lease the space from Myer Dana and Sons, a Newton-based real estate firm which owns the building set for redevelopment.
McCarthy said he had no position on the project and had not attended any of the previous neighborhood meetings about it, but has heard that “there is really no support for a project of its height.”
Boston.com reported in January that McCarthy had sent a letter in support of the project as part of Copper Mill’s 40B application to MassHousing and agreed to a “long-term lease” in the new development.
Myer Dana and Sons did not respond to a request for comment.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.