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More Community Corner Study propels Greenfield redevelopment effort
From The Beacon, Mass Innovations, September 2008
Greenfield’s use of Community Development Block Grant money to fund a study is helping to accelerate what local officials describe as a downtown renaissance.
Mayor Christine Forgey last year allocated an initial $60,000 from a federal block grant to fund feasibility and pre-development studies as part of an effort to fill vacant space in the upper stories of downtown buildings. The studies, conducted by Concord Square Planning & Development of Boston, have not only demonstrated that mixed-use development in the town center is feasible, but have helped persuade the property owners themselves that it makes sense to develop their upper floors.
“It was a risk,” said Marlene Marrocco, the town’s economic development director. “You spend all that money doing a feasibility study, and then the property owners may end up saying, ‘No thanks.’”
Three years ago the town formed a Downtown Coordinating Committee that made progress in some areas, according to Marrocco, but was unable to generate momentum for filling vacant upper-story space.
The creation of a Business Improvement District, through which property owners agree to pay a fee to fund improvements, was not seen as an adequate approach, Marrocco said. Paying for a feasibility study made more sense for the town than, say, creating a new downtown plan.
“The last thing we needed was another plan,” Marrocco said. “We had to ask, ‘How else can we get people to do something with their businesses?’”
Greenfield had a number of things in its favor, including one of the few remaining downtown department stores in the region and the emergence of many new restaurants.
But as Concord Square President Ted Carman points out, “The problem with downtowns is that the rents you can collect from tenants only amount to about half of what it would cost to renovate the property. Ownership is typically diverse, and the solution to the cost issue is very complex.”
Concord Square “put together a development option that laid out all the issues,” Carman said.
The consulting firm’s focus, originally restricted to three vacant or partly vacant buildings that the Greenfield Redevelopment Authority had acquired by eminent domain, expanded to comprise a dozen properties.
“We think we’ve found a way to get the owners of 12 buildings, plus a consortium of three local banks, to cooperate with each other,” Carman said.
A key partner is the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, the private consortium that specializes in financing affordable housing. Carman said the corporation can serve as a conduit for the federal “New Markets” tax credit program and can organize investors who can take advantage of the tax credits.
The New Market credits, Carman said, will be combined with state and federal historic district tax credits as well as conventional forms of financing to cover the overall costs of renovating buildings.
Carman said the Greenfield project generated a good deal of interest at a recent workshop he spoke at in Connecticut devoted to the re-use of the upper floors of downtown buildings.
He said he believes what Greenfield is doing can be replicated in other communities, if they can find a way to aggregate a number of buildings.
“The only way it works is if you have enough money to cover the overhead of these complex transactions,” he said. “It’s very expensive. And typically a few modest-sized buildings can’t support the costs of putting the transaction together.”
For more information, contact Marlene Marrocco at (413) 772-1548, ext. 135.
More Community Corner Study propels Greenfield redevelopment effort
Study propels Greenfield redevelopment effort
From The Beacon, Mass Innovations, September 2008
Greenfield’s use of Community Development Block Grant money to fund a study is helping to accelerate what local officials describe as a downtown renaissance.
Mayor Christine Forgey last year allocated an initial $60,000 from a federal block grant to fund feasibility and pre-development studies as part of an effort to fill vacant space in the upper stories of downtown buildings. The studies, conducted by Concord Square Planning & Development of Boston, have not only demonstrated that mixed-use development in the town center is feasible, but have helped persuade the property owners themselves that it makes sense to develop their upper floors.
“It was a risk,” said Marlene Marrocco, the town’s economic development director. “You spend all that money doing a feasibility study, and then the property owners may end up saying, ‘No thanks.’”
Three years ago the town formed a Downtown Coordinating Committee that made progress in some areas, according to Marrocco, but was unable to generate momentum for filling vacant upper-story space.
The creation of a Business Improvement District, through which property owners agree to pay a fee to fund improvements, was not seen as an adequate approach, Marrocco said. Paying for a feasibility study made more sense for the town than, say, creating a new downtown plan.
“The last thing we needed was another plan,” Marrocco said. “We had to ask, ‘How else can we get people to do something with their businesses?’”
Greenfield had a number of things in its favor, including one of the few remaining downtown department stores in the region and the emergence of many new restaurants.
But as Concord Square President Ted Carman points out, “The problem with downtowns is that the rents you can collect from tenants only amount to about half of what it would cost to renovate the property. Ownership is typically diverse, and the solution to the cost issue is very complex.”
Concord Square “put together a development option that laid out all the issues,” Carman said.
The consulting firm’s focus, originally restricted to three vacant or partly vacant buildings that the Greenfield Redevelopment Authority had acquired by eminent domain, expanded to comprise a dozen properties.
“We think we’ve found a way to get the owners of 12 buildings, plus a consortium of three local banks, to cooperate with each other,” Carman said.
A key partner is the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation, the private consortium that specializes in financing affordable housing. Carman said the corporation can serve as a conduit for the federal “New Markets” tax credit program and can organize investors who can take advantage of the tax credits.
The New Market credits, Carman said, will be combined with state and federal historic district tax credits as well as conventional forms of financing to cover the overall costs of renovating buildings.
Carman said the Greenfield project generated a good deal of interest at a recent workshop he spoke at in Connecticut devoted to the re-use of the upper floors of downtown buildings.
He said he believes what Greenfield is doing can be replicated in other communities, if they can find a way to aggregate a number of buildings.
“The only way it works is if you have enough money to cover the overhead of these complex transactions,” he said. “It’s very expensive. And typically a few modest-sized buildings can’t support the costs of putting the transaction together.”
For more information, contact Marlene Marrocco at (413) 772-1548, ext. 135.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
