The City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee voted to request that the mayor fund a new economic development manager position in the next city budget. It also requested the clerk’s office compile job descriptions for business managers in neighboring cities for the committee to later review.
This decision came after Frank Craig, chair of the city’s Board of Assessors, presented on how Waltham’s Route 128 corridor is facing difficulties attracting and retaining businesses in the current financial environment.
Craig, speaking Monday at the Economic and Community Development Committee meeting, said the Route 128 corridor until recently had experienced a steady inflow of biotechnology companies looking for lab and office space. However, commercial occupancy in the last few years has tapered off as biotech companies have had more difficulty obtaining capital funding.
Craig spoke at Monday’s meeting to paint a picture of Waltham’s economic pressures to give councilors more information as they considered whether to hire a business manager for Waltham.
Craig described lab and office buildings constructed within the last five years that seem to have experienced difficulty finding tenants, including three that are fully or partially vacant. He said that given the high cost of building specialized lab spaces, real estate companies are reluctant to start construction on new buildings, meaning even more city lots will likely continue to sit empty and lose value unless companies find other ways to use them.
Older buildings may be in an even worse position, Craig said, as real estate markets witness a “flight to quality” in the commercial sector. He pointed out that one office building at 130 Turner St. sold last year for $25.5 million — significantly less than the last time it changed hands in 2018, when it sold for approximately $80 million.
Craig pointed to Burlington and Watertown as municipalities that have done a good job weathering this real estate downturn by taking advantage of opportunities to build new developments with office, residential and commercial spaces in close proximity. He added that Burlington and Watertown both employ municipal economic development specialists.
The Board of Assessors has been forecasting economic trends in the city to assess the value of its commercial properties. However, Craig said the city would benefit by trying to put together a longer-term picture of those trends and their impact, for example of the potential effects of currently proposed construction projects around the city, such as the housing developments proposed under Massachusetts General Law 40B, on future commercial development.
City ‘eager’ to continue with mixed-use district plan
In other City Council action, the council’s Ordinances and Rules Committee took steps toward approving a zoning change to allow real estate companies to construct mixed-use developments on three parcels of land around Route 128.
These zoning overlay districts were proposed in December by real estate companies BXP Inc., which owns the land at the Winter Street Bay Colony and along Jones Road, and 1265 Main Street LLC, which owns the parcel at 1265 Main Street.
Councilors expressed a desire to move forward with the zoning changes. “The city is really eager to achieve this goal with you,” Ward 8 Councilor and committee Chair Cathyann Harris told representatives of the two companies at a Monday meeting.
Representatives of BXP reviewed the results of a recent consultation with neighbors of the Bay Colony property. They said most of the changes requested by neighbors would be taken up in upcoming special permit discussions, but it committed to expanding the setback at the northwest edge of the property from 75 to 100 feet.
Mark Fougere, a consultant hired by BXP to assess the developments’ fiscal impact on the city, told the committee he expects BXP’s two proposed districts to ultimately earn more money for Waltham. He estimated that the Bay Colony site would bring in about $3.9 million in new revenue from sources such as property taxes and cost the city between $1.5 and $2.2 million in services for new residents. The Jones Road parcel, he estimated, would bring in about $1.75 million in city revenue, and cost between $436,000 and $693,000.
On the recommendation of Planning Director Robert Waters, the committee voted to allocate $55,000 to hire CommunityScale LLC, the company conducting Waltham’s ongoing zoning review, to review plans for the three overlay districts while the committee continues to deliberate. Ward 2 Councilor Caren Dunn requested CommunityScale estimate how long its review will take to complete to ensure it aligns with construction deadlines associated with the zoning districts.
The committee also requested Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy appear at its next meeting on April 21 to discuss the three proposed zoning changes.
Additionally, the City Council:
- Officially filed a 2-year-old motion welcoming Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa to the district after hearing an update from Mendonsa on Waltham’s schools. (Committee of the Whole)
- Approved a preliminary plan for the $850,450 that Waltham will receive in Community Development Block Grant funding which the Planning Department plans to submit to the Department of Housing and Economic Development after Thursday’s community feedback meeting. (Economic and Community Development)
- Approved an appropriation of $35,339.10 for the Disabilities Services Commission’s accessibility supplies, including changing tables, aquatic wheelchairs and scholarships for individuals impacted by disabilities (Finance)
- Approved a state grant of $3,500 for the Waltham Police Department to train 911 dispatchers. (Finance)
- Preliminarily approved a grant of location at Bear Hill Road near Fox Road for the electric utility company Eversource to provide underground storage space expansion (Licences and Franchises Committee)
- Renewed a secondhand dealers’ license for The Tool Shed at 471 Main St. (Licenses and Franchises Committee)
- Approved special permit extensions for three proposed office spaces at 1432 Main St., 460 Totten Pond Road and 850 Winter St. allowing landowners to postpone construction on the projects. Ward 9 Councilor and Council President Robert Logan warned that councilors should consider an upper limit on extending special permits, pointing out that the 50 Winter St. permit was originally granted in 2013 and has been affecting feasibility studies for all other prospective developments in the meantime. (Ordinances and Rules)
- Reviewed updates to plans for a proposed hotel on Moody Street. The petitioner presented changes to the building’s aesthetic design requested by McCarthy and agreed to add in specifics about parking permits the building will purchase from the city and the funding it will provide for local park improvements. The committee sent a draft of an air rights easement the building will require for its proposed second-floor cantilever over the Embassy parking lot to McCarthy’s office for review. (Ordinances and Rules)