Deal on R&D site '95 percent' done

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on May 30, 2008

Town Manager Larry Shaffer has reached a tentative agreement with the owners of land in North Amherst that could become the site of a major research and development complex.

The 140-acre site lies between Sunderland and Montague roads, and about 62 acres are dry enough to develop, Shaffer said. The land has had professional research park zoning designation for about 20 years, but private efforts to develop it have been unsuccessful, in part because it lacks water and sewer connections.

Shaffer said he envisions a development of between 250,000 and 500,000 square feet, with a value of between $70 million and $250 million. The goal is to increase the commercial tax base in Amherst, where residents pay about 90 percent of the property taxes.

Big tax dollars

Using Shaffer's valuation estimates, such a development at full occupancy would bring in between $1.6 million and $4 million in taxes a year.

The town manager has been negotiating the terms of an option and lease with Bruce Patterson, 49, of Kingman Road, and his mother, Arlette Patterson, 80, who lives at the site. They are the owners of the key acreage. Shaffer said he has also talked to the owner of adjacent land.

Bruce Patterson said that following a tentative agreement Wednesday, his family's lawyers are reviewing the contract. "I'm 95 percent certain it should go," he said. The agreement includes a provision that will enable his mother to stay in her house on Montague Road for the rest of her life, he said.

"It's been a pleasure to deal with Mr. Shaffer," he said Thursday. "We look forward to bringing some financial stability to the town of Amherst."

The option would involve a payment to the Pattersons and would be contingent on Town Meeting approval, Shaffer said. It would tie up the property for three years, and the town would have the option to enter a long-term lease or sell the option to a developer, he said.

The financial terms were not disclosed, pending finalization of the deal.

"There's a sense that development of the land will not happen without the town's direct and affirmative participation," Shaffer said. "If we wait for the private sector, it won't happen."

The proximity of the University of Massachusetts and its leadership in the fields of polymer science and energy conservation, plus the quality of life in Amherst, could be powerful attractions to a company seeking a location, he said.

The site would probably be too expensive for "spin-off" businesses arising from faculty research, but outside firms doing research and development might be interested, he said.

As an example, he cited a German company specializing in solar electricity generation that considered a site in western Massachusetts before locating in New Mexico.

"With the blessings of Town Meeting and the Select Board, we can start to put together the ingredients necessary to entice an entity into that property," he said. "The town can set the table and expedite things and bring parties together to make it happen."

Shaffer estimated the cost of bringing water and sewer connections to the site, plus making the necessary road and parking improvements, at $12 million. These costs could be paid through grants, the water and sewer funds, bonds and "tax increment financing," a tool that uses future gains in taxes to finance improvements that will create those gains.

Approval of the agreement by Town Meeting would trigger the long-awaited hiring of an economic development director to direct the project, Shaffer said. He would look for someone with skills related to such a development, he said.

It could build Amherst's anemic commercial tax base, easing the burden on residents, without having a major impact on the town's quality of life, he said. The development would not include any retail or hotel businesses, he said.

Town Meeting's say

The earliest the plan could come before Town Meeting would be this fall. But it's difficult to predict how Town Meeting will react to the proposal.

In 1999, a proposal by UMass officials to allow a hotel and conference center on this land gained a majority of votes at Town Meeting but failed because it needed a two-thirds majority. Opponents cited fears over traffic, parties and sprawl. Since then, three hotels have been built in Hadley, with the tax benefits going there.

But last fall, Town Meeting agreed to a plan to relax the rules for customers visiting businesses in professional research park zones, a change that Shaffer said would help the North Amherst plan.

If Town Meeting did not support the deal, Shaffer said he would refocus his attention on another area to broaden the tax base.

"One reason economic development is looked at fearfully is fear of the unknown," Shaffer said. "We'll try to turn that around so we can have a constructive outcome, and all those things that cause anxiety are taken care of. We'll find out what economic development really means in Amherst."

Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.