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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-04-18-EDAC-min Town of Lexington Economic Development Advisory Board April 18, 2013 Legion Room- Cary Hall 8:OOam-9:30am MINUTES Present: John McWeeney, Chair;Narain Bhatia; George Burnell;Rick DeAngelis;David Pronchick; Bruce Embry;Peter Kelley;Larry Smith;Sig Tullmann;Melisa Tintocalis; Carl Valente;Maryann McCall Taylor Meeting called to order at 8 am. Updates on Hartwell Ave. Projects: Melisa reported on progress on Hartwell improvements: 1) Town Meeting approved funds for Hartwell Ave. sidewalk now and plans for roadway design; 2) Fund award on Pilot shuttle by State on temporary hold; 3) Hartwell Association prefers a September start for shuttle service if funded John McWeeney also acknowledged Melisa for her work and success on the parklet and the CPA funded alley project. Membership expansion to 11 discussed: All appreciate Joe Zink's contributions to committee and Lexington. Larry Smith reported he has successfully recruited 2 top folks for the committee: Mr. Barry Richards, a commercial broker non-resident with broad and deep knowledge of commercial real estate in this area and Tom Dusel, President of Hobbs Brooks, a prominent local land owner and developer to replace Joe Zinks expertise on the Committee. George Burnell has agreed to join the committee to continue to share his experience and judgment. It was decided to see if a downtown property owner might be interested in joining. Competitiveness of Lexington: Hartwell competitiveness was discussed relative to real estate taxes per square foot. Co-star data was sent by Dan Cordeau of Alexandria Properties and a couple of spreadsheets were provided by the Chair. It was pointed out that Hartwell is primarily office space and that six property owners control most of the space. A review of the data seemed to show lab space at around $6/sf in Waltham and Lexington although considerably lower in Bedford- Office space in Lexington and Waltham seem comparable. It did not appear to be an issue here but members were asked to review the numbers to see if we missed anything. There was also discussion of how to reduce vacancy on Hartwell, including the upgrades to existing building and encouraging additional development. Positive development is the infrastructure improvements by the Town. The possibility of new ownership for the Kiln Brook could bring an infusion of investment and upgrade of space. Larry indicated the value of space is in the possibility of a larger floor plate serving larger tenants. Sig said that we need to grow the tax base not just shift between types of properties which led to discussion of merging properties,the conversion of the Town's compost site to higher and compatible uses and a plan for the re-development of the air base with MIT, existing uses and new development. Larry indicated most developable land for the Hanscom was in Bedford. We should consider creating a plan of what we think would be best for base redevelopment and a plan of what infrastructure would be needed and a plan to finance and make improvements over a 5- 10 yr period. Larry offered to use his office as site of next mtg as a starting place for looking at the base to try to get an understanding of what and where exists and possibilities and how to tie into Hartwell.