MassDevelopment.com: Press Room: MassDevelopment, Sovereign Bank Announce Financing for Plymouth Redevelopment Authority's Revere Copper Site

MassDevelopment, Sovereign Bank Announce Financing for Plymouth Redevelopment Authority's Revere Copper Site
PRA Hosts Groundbreaking to Kick Off Remediation Work
May 5, 2006

Contacts:
Laura Schaefer, Plymouth Redevelopment Authority, 508-747-1620 x146
Ellen Molle, Sovereign Bank, 617-757-5573
Adam Bickelman, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086

MassDevelopment and Sovereign Bank today announced a $1,130,000 real estate mortgage loan to the Plymouth Redevelopment Authority (PRA). The PRA will use loan proceeds - $500,000 from the MassDevelopment Brownfields Redevelopment Fund and $630,000 from co-lender Sovereign Bank - to remediate a long-blighted 72,420 square foot parcel of land located on the corner of Water and Lothrop Streets in Plymouth, commonly known as the Revere Copper & Brass site. The lenders announced the financing package at an event hosted by the Plymouth Redevelopment Authority to mark the start of the environmental clean-up. When remediation work is finished, the PRA will sell the site to a private housing developer.

"This is a perfect example of how the public sector, at all levels of government, can partner with private financial institutions and developers to revitalize a high-profile site and create critically needed units of housing," said Robert L. Culver, MassDevelopment president/CEO. "I tip my hat to the Plymouth Redevelopment Authority and our co-lender Sovereign Bank for working with us to bring the Revere Copper & Brass site back online."

In 1850, the land was home to Edes Manufacturing, Co., a producer of zinc, copper and magnesium products. In 1968, Revere Copper & Brass - the modern incarnation of Paul Revere's historic copper business - purchased the land for a manufacturing plant. The plant closed in 1989, and the building was used for storage until 1999. Later in 1999, the Plymouth Redevelopment Authority undertook negotiations to purchase the site and perform environmental remediation work using brownfields funding. The PRA made the project a top priority given its high profile location as the last underdeveloped parcel in the Plymouth Waterfront District.

"The South Shore is one of the fastest growing communities in Massachusetts," said Pat Sullivan, Massachusetts CEO for Sovereign Bank. "This project will help provide vitally needed new housing units, and ultimately revive the neighborhood. We are pleased to work with MassDevelopment to help make this possible."

A critical component of the redevelopment agreement and brownfields financing was a covenant not to sue, secured by the PRA from Attorney General Thomas Reilly and the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The covenant relieves the land's current and future owners of all liability relating to past environmental contamination, and enables the PRA to fast-track its remediation effort.

"Without the covenant-not-to-sue, it likely would have taken more than a decade to clean and resell this important parcel of land," said Laura Schaefer, executive director, Plymouth Redevelopment Authority. "Thanks to our partnership with Sovereign, MassDevelopment, DEP and the Attorney General, we're seeing real progress at an exciting pace; and we'll soon have development to complete the revitalization of Plymouth's waterfront."

Soon after finalizing remediation financing with Sovereign Bank and MassDevelopment, the PRA entered into a purchase and sale agreement with developer Karsten Co. of South Weymouth for $2,000,010. Karsten is planning a village-style development for the site including 30 townhouse-style residential condominiums. The condominium units will feature two bathrooms, two and a half bathrooms and approximately 1,400 square feet of livable space, porches, and a connected garage.

The Plymouth Redevelopment Authority was established in 1959 by the Town of Plymouth to plan and implement an urban renewal project. Since the completion of the project, the Redevelopment Authority has focused it energies on providing loan and grant programs for Plymouth households to acquire, and/or through housing rehabilitation programs, to live in decent, safe and sanitary housing. The Authority currently administers several housing purchase and preservation programs for the Town of Plymouth. It is a HUD Counseling Agency and Massachusetts Homeownership Collaboration member providing homebuyer/homeowner counseling and education.

Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent company of Sovereign Bank, a pro forma $83 billion financial institution with nearly 800 community banking offices, over 2,000 ATMs and approximately 12,000 team members with principal markets in the Northeast United States after giving effect to the Independence acquisition and recently announced branding agreement in which Sovereign ATMs will be placed in CVS/pharmacy locations. Sovereign offers a broad array of financial services and products including retail banking, business and corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, wealth management and insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, visit www.sovereignbank.com or call 1-877-SOV-BANK.

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, works with businesses, financial institutions and local officials to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2005, MassDevelopment financed or managed 158 projects statewide representing an investment of nearly $1.9 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are supporting the creation of 2,769 housing units and more than 9,800 jobs: 4,702 permanent and 5,100 construction-related.