UMass makes deal for Bayside
Plans to expand Boston campus; Expo center site faced foreclosure
By Milton J. Valencia and Casey Ross, Globe Staff | December 17, 2009
The University of Massachusetts Boston has reached an agreement to acquire the troubled Bayside Exposition Center at Columbia Point in what would mark a major expansion by the school into neighboring waterfront property in Dorchester.
The move also significantly alters plans for a prime 20-acre piece of land that had once been targeted for a $1 billion development, until the property faced foreclosure.
UMass, which said it has reached a preliminary agreement with the real estate company that owns the property, plans to immediately use the Bayside?s nearly 2,000 parking spaces as it constructs new facilities at its existing space along its Morrissey Boulevard campus. The 275,000-square-foot Bayside building will also be used for classrooms and offices during renovations of buildings.
Officials from the university would not disclose a price. A purchase and sale agreement has not been signed, but the final figure is expected to be near the $11 million the owner, LNR Massachusetts Partners, paid to buy the property in the spring after foreclosure. UMass said the acquisition of the property would be paid for with bond funding and would have little impact on student tuition rates.
The university said the acquisition of the Bayside property is crucial as it embarks on its biggest expansion project in 35 years with the construction of a new science complex, general academic building, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
But the acquisition also provides the university with a prime piece of real estate that it will look to develop once initial construction plans are complete.
UMass officials would not discuss any long-term plans for the property yesterday, saying any project will be coordinated in partnership with city and state officials and area residents.
?We know as a university that we will want to really engage the community, engage the neighborhoods, engage the city of Boston in coming up with a plan for the site that not only helps the university in achieving its mission but also supports the neighborhood, community residents and the City of Boston,?? said UMass spokesman DeWayne Lehman. ?We?re not going anywhere, and we need and want to be good neighbors.??
The Bayside property had been part of a larger, 27-acre plan for a community on Dorchester Bay with hundreds of residences, stores, and offices. That plan soured in the spring, however, when the developer, Corcoran Jennison Co., defaulted on a $22 million loan for the Bayside property.
LNR Massachusetts Partners, a division of LNR Property Corp., gained ownership of the property for $11 million in May at a foreclosure auction after Corcoran Jennison defaulted on its mortgage.
At the time, Corcoran officials said that the foreclosure was the result of a national credit crisis, and that it was interested in hearing LNR Massachusetts? plans for the property. Reached at his home last night, Gary Jennison, vice chairman of Corcoran Jennison, declined to comment.
Lehman said yesterday that the university had recently notified Corcoran officials, as well as city and state officials, of the intent to buy the property.
He said it was too early to say whether Corcoran?s plans would be incorporated in the university?s vision for the land. Other properties in the area include the Doubletree Club Hotel and the Harbor Point residential community.
UMass Chancellor J. Keith Motley said in a statement that, ?The Bayside property represents a truly unique opportunity for the University of Massachusetts Boston, the city of Boston, and our neighbors in Dorchester and in South Boston. We look forward to partnering with the city, state, and community to create a vision that furthers our educational mission, stimulates greater economic activity and opportunity, and enriches our neighborhood and region.??
Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday welcomed the acquisition.
?Higher education remains one of our strongest economic engines and we will continue to work closely with UMass as they develop their plans for the future,?? the mayor said in a statement. ?UMass has been a great partner in providing many services for our residents and we believe that those partnerships will only grow as we move forward.??
Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for the mayor, would not say when the mayor had found out about the planned purchase, and would not comment on how UMass will compensate the city for removing a lucrative piece of property from city tax rolls.
In the past, the mayor has used his leverage over development plans by Boston?s universities to extract payments from them to compensate for the loss of property tax revenue. He launched a task force in 2008 to seek recommendations for eliminating inequities in the amount of money tax-exempt universities pay to the city.
In a statement, UMass said it will work with the city to compensate for the removal of the property from city tax rolls, and that the acquisition ?will bring stability in ownership of this large and important Columbia Point property since its foreclosure earlier this year.??
The immediate construction is part of UMass?s 10-year master plan that calls for the development of more than $500 million in new facilities and infrastructure.
But the acquisition of the prime Bayside property is bound to spark a new master plan for the school and the area.
Paul Nutting, an area resident and member of the Columbia Point Master Plan Task Force, a local civic group run under the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said yesterday that local officials and residents had been working on a plan that followed Jennison Corcoran?s design for a mixed-use development with stores and residences. That plan will have to change.
He said UMass?s announcement yesterday triggered new questions:
Will the university allow open access to the waterfront? And will it let a prime piece of property, removed from city tax rolls, sit as a parking lot?
?There?s good and bad to this, so we?ll see,?? Nutting said. ?This sort of changes the whole dynamic of things.??
