What follows is the text of Streetworks response to the Citys notification that they are in default of the Land Disposition Agreement for the Re-development of Quincy Center. Street-Works Development would like to share the following letter sent to Mayor Koch today, Thursday, March 13. To: The Honorable Mayor Thomas Koch We have received your notice of default under the Land Disposition Agreement. It is with regret that we must report to you and to the citizens of Quincy that we are at a crossroads in our work with the New Quincy Center and in our partnership with the City. Drawing on thirty years of experience as developers and consultants, we firmly believe that financing and building new construction development in the downtown is impossible today. Specifically, the existing Land Disposition Agreement contains prohibitive conditions relating to project cost. This, combined with rapidly escalating construction costs, has brought progress to a halt. While we at Street-Works cannot presently foresee how these obstacles will resolve, we are grateful to you and to the people of Quincy for generously sharing with us your wonderful city, its proud history, and your hopes and dreams for a great downtown. We have worked passionately with you shoulder to shoulder for the better part of ten years. In that time, we have spent untold time and personal resources in pursuit of our shared vision, and we can say without qualification that we have grown from the experience. We remember ringing the Salvation Army bell in front of 1400 Hancock in the freezing Holiday Season, and waiting in the heat of summer for the Flag Day parade to begin. We thank you for including us in your traditions, and for inspiring us along the way. To those who say our vision is audacious, lofty, and grand, we remind them that it was a Quincy farmer and lawyer, John Adams, who had the courage to dream of a free country, and the vision to lead a fledgling nation. And in the face of the last great depression, it was a Quincy banker, Theophilus King, who dreamed of a great city downtown, and the Granite Trust Building stands there today as a testament to his dreams and ambitions. Our dreams - and your dreams too, as codified in the Urban Revitalization District Plan and the Downtown Vision, Framework, & Strategy - were bold, ambitious, and hopeful. For that, we make no apology. This downtown Quincy master plan and strategy was carefully crafted to be executed in phased, manageable, and financeable steps, working with strong local experts in real estate. While we know weve had our skeptics, wed remind them that everything we proposed in Quincy we have planned and successfully executed elsewhere. Your dream of a great, sustainable new Quincy Center has animated stakeholders throughout the Commonwealth. New Quincy Center has always had tremendous support from local and state elected officials, and we are frequently approached by admiring urban planners and economic development officials from around the Commonwealth. Further, there is no merit to the notion that the market rejected Quincy. We had a strong financial agreement in place with investors in Merchants Row and also have strong interest and Letters of Intent from hotels, cinemas, gourmet grocery stores, restaurants, nationally branded and local retailers, and office users, all anxious to locate to the New Quincy Center pending a resolution of cost issues inherent in the Land Disposition Agreement. When these cost challenges are resolved and when opportunities to improve your downtown present themselves - and we know they will - we would urge you to aim high, as Quincys leaders have always done. Ask yourself if these future opportunities will position Quincy as the great urban gateway to Boston that it should be. The City of Quincy deserves nothing less. One final note: for dreams to become reality, they need great leaders, stewards, and champions. We trust that the citizens of Quincy realize how fortunate they are to have those qualities in you. While accomplishing this downtown vision will be challenging, there is no one who loves the City more, and no one more capable of accomplishing great things. As opportunity presents itself in the future for downtown Quincy, we look to play a part, in any capacity that would help make our collective vision a successful reality. Sincerely, Street-Works Development LLC
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:34:42 +0000
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