Officials: Former GE site primed for sale

LYNN – Land near the Lynnway where General Electric once built giant ship gears could be sold by next spring, possibly to a developer interested in constructing a high-rise residential building on the site.Ward 6 City Councilor Peter Capano and other officials said Tuesday the site?s development will be dictated by city waterfront zoning rules providing various options for the land?s future use, including residences or, possibly, a hotel.?Depending on what kind of money it attracts there is a whole range of possibilities. I see them selling that quickly,” Capano said.General Electric spokesman Richard Gorham confirmed company plans to sell the site, totaling about 50 acres.?We are progressing toward our plan of marketing the parcel for sale in the near future. We are working through our internal review processes as well as ensuring we comply with all environmental regulations,” Gorman said in a statement.The potential for the site?s sale in 2014 sets the stage for two major properties owned by Lynn?s largest employer simultaneously getting new leases on life.Swampscott businessman Charles Patsios bought GE?s Factory of the Future site on Western Avenue in May and Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy in August said work on converting the 88,000 square foot building into a Market Basket store will begin in fall 2014.The gear plant site is primed for development with its location next to a stop on the commuter railroad line linking Boston to Lynn. Any project built on the land will be one of the first sights drivers crossing the General Edwards Bridge into Lynn will see, said Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Director James Cowdell.?It?s a key piece of development down there. You could have people living there, hopping on a train and working in Boston,” Cowdell said.Built in 1941, the former gear plant by 1971 had more than 800 workers employed in a 500,000-square-foot facility. The plant manufactured its last gears in December 2010, and GE executives briefly considered a plan in 2011 to manufacture locomotives in the plant before tearing it down.Any sale of the gear plant site by GE will occur after the company – in line with state guidelines – will determine how much environmental cleanup work is required on the land.Capano said changes in state cleanup requirements for potential development sites freed the Factory of the Future land for sale after it remained vacant for decades. He is planning a council committee meeting in January to discuss development plans across the city, including the gear plant land.Cowdell told GE and city efforts to build on land last March to Lynn Business Partnership members and said the company initially planned “to get this property marketable by the end of the year.”?I think there?s real good possibility of something being built there,” Capano said.View Former Riverworks Gear Plant in a larger map