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MassDevelopment In The News
Massachusetts Environmental Bill Could Free Up NorthPoint Sale
April 5, 2007: The Bond Buyer, by Michelle Kaske
A public hearing today will address legislation that would allow Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Protection to exempt certain landlocked tidelands from licensing requirements, a measure that will enable the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency to move forward with a $150 million bond sale for a $2 billion NorthPoint development project.
The bill will clear up a technical glitch brought about by a decision of the state’s supreme judicial court in February that determined that the DEP does not have the legislative authority to exempt landlocked expansion from waterfront regulations, known in Massachusetts as Chapter 91. For 17 years the DEP exempted filled tidelands that do not lie alongside the waterfront from requiring licenses for development projects.
In response to the court’s ruling, Gov. Deval Patrick filed the bill on March 1. DEP’s ability to exempt landlocked projects goes beyond the NorthPoint project, which is located primarily in Cambridge. If lawmakers do not pass the measure, land all along the state’s coast would require Chapter 91 regulation, according to Robert Keough, spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.
"By our calculations, the land that would have to be relicensed under Chapter 91—that is not currently subject to Chapter 91—totals nearly 4,000 acres of land in 40 communities up and down the coast," he said. "Boston alone is more than 3,000 acres of land."
There would also be a cloud over titles to the land, making it difficult for landowners to sell or refinance their properties, Keough said.
The measure currently sits with the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, & Agriculture. When exactly the measure will move onto the legislative floor for a vote has yet to be determined, according to Lauren Coughlin, spokeswoman for Rep. Frank Israel Smizik, D-Norfolk, who is co-chairman of the joint committee.
Once the issue is resolved, MassDevelopment anticipates selling $150 million of special assessment bonds on behalf of NorthPoint’s developer, Jones Lang Lasalle. While the authority planned on issuing the bonds in February or March, the financing delay is not hindering construction at NorthPoint so far, as projects dependent upon the bond proceeds are still in design stages, according to Lisa Serafin, vice president and NorthPoint project director at Jones Lang Lasalle.
"If it doesn’t get fixed it’s a huge issue, but at the moment we’re continuing to move forward," Serafin said.
Bond proceeds will help finance the relocation and construction of a new Lechmere mass transit station along the state’s Green Line, a new bus station, the creation of a 10-acre park, roadway improvements to the Monsignor O’Brien Highway, public utility improvements, and landscaping enhancements, among other projects, according to MassDevelopment documents.
It will be the authority’s first special assessment bond transaction, after lawmakers passed special legislation last year enabling the agency to issue the debt for the NorthPoint development. Banc of America Securities will price the transaction and Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge LLP is bond counsel. MassDevelopment does not anticipate insuring the debt.
The $2 billion NorthPoint project will transform 45 acres of land in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville that currently has no existing infrastructure into a mixed-use development over the next 15 years. The project will include 2.2 million square feet of commercial space and 2,700 residential units.
© Copyright 2007 The Bond Buyer.
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