Developer selected for Nahant Coast Guard property

NAHANT – The town has selected a developer for the former Coast Guard Housing project.Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said the town received good proposals from potential developers.”The evaluation was very close,” he said. “We used six criteria to choose a developer.”Cullinan said Bass Point Residences LLC has been selected for the project. He said the corporation was formed solely for this project but Phillip Singleton and Jeffrey Gouchberg, who are the principals in the corporation, have extensive experience in development.Cullinan said the six criteria used to judge the proposals were price, a complete proposal, consistency with design guidelines set forth by the town, architectural/site design excellence, the ability to integrate development site with existing neighborhood, the ability of the developer to take on this project. Cullinan said Bass Point Residences LLC offered the town slightly more than $2.2 million and two other proposals offered the minimum price of $2.1 million.The town paid the federal government $2 million for the 3.5-acre parcel of land in January 2005.The town had hoped to sell the property almost immediately after purchasing it, but the General Services Administration, the agency that disposes of surplus government property, put a clause in the purchase agreement stating if the town sells the property within three years after acquiring it that it would have to turn any profit from the sale over to the government. Because of the clause, the Board of Selectmen agreed it was in the best interest of the town to keep the property for at least three years and The Hall Company Inc. was hired to manage the property for the town. Cullinan said the current rental leases expire June 30, 2009.”This has been a three-year process,” he said. “We’ve had four or five public meetings, four Town meetings and dozens of meetings in the community as well as committee meetings. Now the town will begin the real work.”The RFP called for re-development proposals that include eight single-family homes in the vicinity of Castle and Gardner roads and it allows for no more than 20 multi-family homes in the Goddard Drive area. Cullinan said the town needs to prepare a developer agreement, meet with the Zoning Board of Appeals and file a local 40B (affordable housing) initiative petition for the project.Cullinan said he expects 25 percent of the units to be affordable housing and 70 percent of those would be for Nahant residents.”We’ll iron out the nuts and bolts over the winter,” he said.Selling the town-owned property would require the approval of Town Meeting and Cullinan said a special Town Meeting has tentatively been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 10.”Assuming everything goes as planned and everyone is out by July 2 (2009) when the developer takes ownership,” he said. “The developer hopes to begin site work in August 2009 and expects it will take 12 to 16 months to complete.”Cullinan said when the project is complete it would be an asset to the town in a number of ways.”It will be a terrific improvement to town in terms of architecture and increased housing stock,” he said. It will bring in approximately $200,000 a year in additional tax revenue to the town.”