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Town of Lexington <br /> Economic Development Advisory Board <br /> April 18, 2013 <br /> Legion Room- Cary Hall <br /> 8:OOam-9:30am <br /> MINUTES <br /> Present: John McWeeney, Chair;Narain Bhatia; George Burnell;Rick DeAngelis;David <br /> Pronchick; Bruce Embry;Peter Kelley;Larry Smith;Sig Tullmann;Melisa Tintocalis; <br /> Carl Valente;Maryann McCall Taylor <br /> Meeting called to order at 8 am. <br /> Updates on Hartwell Ave. Projects: Melisa reported on progress on Hartwell <br /> improvements: 1) Town Meeting approved funds for Hartwell Ave. sidewalk now <br /> and plans for roadway design; 2) Fund award on Pilot shuttle by State on temporary <br /> hold; 3) Hartwell Association prefers a September start for shuttle service if <br /> funded <br /> John McWeeney also acknowledged Melisa for her work and success on the parklet <br /> and the CPA funded alley project. <br /> Membership expansion to 11 discussed: All appreciate Joe Zink's contributions <br /> to committee and Lexington. Larry Smith reported he has successfully recruited 2 <br /> top folks for the committee: Mr. Barry Richards, a commercial broker non-resident <br /> with broad and deep knowledge of commercial real estate in this area and Tom <br /> Dusel, President of Hobbs Brooks, a prominent local land owner and developer to <br /> replace Joe Zinks expertise on the Committee. George Burnell has agreed to join the <br /> committee to continue to share his experience and judgment. It was decided to see if <br /> a downtown property owner might be interested in joining. <br /> Competitiveness of Lexington: Hartwell competitiveness was discussed relative to <br /> real estate taxes per square foot. Co-star data was sent by Dan Cordeau of <br /> Alexandria Properties and a couple of spreadsheets were provided by the Chair. <br /> It was pointed out that Hartwell is primarily office space and that six property <br /> owners control most of the space. A review of the data seemed to show lab space at <br /> around $6/sf in Waltham and Lexington although considerably lower in Bedford- <br /> Office space in Lexington and Waltham seem comparable. It did not appear to be an <br /> issue here but members were asked to review the numbers to see if we missed <br /> anything. <br /> There was also discussion of how to reduce vacancy on Hartwell, including the <br /> upgrades to existing building and encouraging additional development. Positive <br />