MassDevelopment Provides $525,000 Brownfields Loan to Clean Up Newburyport Sites

September 18, 2013

Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077 (cell)
David Hall, Hall and Moskow, 978-465-7047

MassDevelopment has provided a $525,000 Brownfields Loan to Hall and Moskow, Inc., the largest residential landlord in Newburyport, to clean contamination on multiple sites in a residential area of the city. Post-remediation, Hall & Moskow plans to build a community of townhouses with a focus on urban agriculture. The company has a proven track record of remediating brownfields parcels in Newburyport, having transformed a contaminated downtown site into The Tannery Marketplace. Hall and Moskow expects to create a multi-unit development in quantity consistent with existing multifamily zoning.

“The Brownfields Redevelopment Fund is a proven economic development tool, paving the way for development on challenging sites,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “We’re pleased to provide this loan to Hall and Moskow so the company can transform these parcels into another vibrant residential Newburyport neighborhood. Unfortunately, the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund is fully committed and unable to fund new requests, a situation we hope the Legislature will rectify soon.”

Founded by Gordon Hall III and Michael Moskow in the early 1970s, Hall and Moskow specializes in real estate ownership, management, and development. The company owns The Tannery Marketplace and 27 multifamily buildings that house 85 apartments in Newburyport. Hall was a consultant to the Boston Redevelopment Authority for the redevelopment of Faneuil Hall in the 1960s and advocated on behalf of the Newburyport Historical Society as a consultant to prohibit the demolition of Federal-style buildings in Newburyport's downtown. Hall and Moskow has recently looked beyond revitalizing industrial-use and residential property to encompass green building management practices, installing 400 (60Kw) solar panels to generate most of The Tannery’s common area power needs.

“Hall and Moskow finds the proximity of this site to downtown, the train station and the bike path network unique in Newburyport,” said David Hall, a principal of Hall and Moskow.

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2012, MassDevelopment financed or managed 280 projects generating investment of more than $2.3 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create more than 12,000 jobs and build or rehabilitate 900 residential units.