QUINCY, MA-The on-again/off-again/on-again Quincy Center project has an officially submitted master plan now. Mayor Thomas P. Koch handed in the $1.28-billion plan to the City Council, involving a specialized financing plan. The project will not see the city taking on any debt until the project begins showing a revenue stream.
Street-Works Development LLC, the city's private development partners of the Quincy Center, will secure $50 million in state and federal grant funds to pay for a portion of the public infrastructure improvements associated with the project. The plan estimates $277 million of public infrastructure improvements, which will be covered piece-meal through five steps of development. In addition to the $50 million, the steps will individually create revenue which will pay for the infrastructure. After the project is completed, the city will allow for an additional $11.5 million in public improvements, after the primary project is complete, with an expansion of 750,000 square feet.
Acording to attorney Thomas Kiley, who negotiated for the city, the agreement has "firm benchmarks" which require Street-Works to prove that buildings are leased, parking spaces are filled and "adequate revenue is flowing" before the city commits to any financing. "The mayor's direction at the negotiating table was clear—the revenue needs to be enough to pay for the financing, and there needs to be an additional payment to the city," Kiley says in a press release. "This agreement accomplishes that and sets very firms requirements for how it must work."
The city will rely on Chapter 121A, the state urban redevelopment law, for property tax structure, expecting to rake in $10.4 million in property tax revenue. Street-Works under a Land Disposition Agreement will pay the city $30 million to cover downtown-related debt, which has already accrued during construction of Quincy Center Concourse, as well as other redevelopment costs. Part of this agreement is what allows for the 750,000-square-foot expansion.
The project has been in the works for a couple years to middling success, until catching traction recently. The idea has been in place for about a decade, with little avail. The redevelopment promises 4,100 construction jobs, 5,700 permanent jobs and a revitalization of downtown Quincy. The project will measure one million square feet of office, 700 housing units, two hotels, a cinema and entertainment complex, with 570,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The project will deliver a $10 million payment to Quincy from Street-Works to fund public improvements outside Quincy Center, fifty-cent per square foot maintenance fund by Street-Works for development districts improvements and a $10,000 pledge to Quincy's Affordable Housing Trust Fund for every housing unit developed.
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