CHICOPEE — The City Council hosted a special meeting on March 10 to discuss various items including a real estate transaction to allow the development of the Baskin property to move forward.
The first item was to approve the city be authorized to convey certain real estate obtained through tax title and known as Lot One Main Street, retaining for itself certain easement rights through a three phase disposition.
The real estate transaction proposed by the city is part of the process to allow the Brisa Development project to continue at the four-acre Facemate lot along the Chicopee River.
Based on the order, Mayor John Vieau said, “I believe they’re finally moving forward to the point where there’s some just little bits of red tape and one of them are these easements that need to be addressed in order for them to close and move the project forward.”
Brisa Development LLC put in a proposal in 2019 and were eventually chosen as the preferred developer for the lot.
The Baskin property is part of the Facemate parcel and the proposal is to build over 100 residential units, an indoor multi-purpose sports complex and 10,000-square-foot brewery/restaurant at the former Baskin warehouse.
The item said the city is conveying property owned by the city through tax takings to BD Singing Bridge, LLC in accordance with the RFP and Land Disposition Agreement accepted by the city.
Singing Bridge LLC is the development entity and is a partnership between ADC Communities, Brisa Development, LLC and Chicopee Sports Center, Inc.
ADC and Brisa are national developers of mixed-income, and mixed-use developments, and CSC is a local entity of long-standing Chicopee residents, sports coaches and entrepreneurs.
The item was presented because the city will need to have an easement for telecommunications and a storm drain and sewer on the property to address water issues as noted in the order.
Planning and Development Department Director Lee Pouliot explained, “It’s a very long process for developers to line up the funding resources to do these brownfield redevelopment processes.”
The first closing with Brisa will be to allow them to advance construction of the apartment complex.
The developer is in the advance stages of closing on funding from the state through Housing and Livable Communities, MassHousing and housing tax credit programs which includes many steps and assurances that need to be made along the way.
Those assurances include that the city is authorized to move forward with the closing on the sale of tax lot A, which is where the new residential complex will be constructed.
The second assurance is that the city will accept easements granted from the developer back to the city upon the closing.
Pouliot explained why the city needs to accept those easements upon closing.
He said, “The reason for the easements, prior to the city coming into ownership of this property through tax foreclosure, the city had infrastructure, sewer and drainage, in easement areas running throughout the property. When the property was taken for taxes and we became the owner of the property, those easements were extinguished. That infrastructure is still in place, and we need to maintain access to it and its operations.”
This includes moving a drainage line, so it doesn’t get in the way of the new building’s foundation.
Pouliot said with the support of the City Council, he will be able to communicate the council’s acceptance of both moving forward with closing for the sale and the easements.
“That will clarify two things for the two agencies who are investing tax credits in the project,” Pouliot said. “Both agencies are ready to close on their funding outside of receiving these assurances. This is one step of many, one of the last steps for the city.”
Pouliot said that if everything goes according to plan with the funding and tax credits, he believes the developer is hoping to break ground on the residential buildings this spring with around an 18 month to 20 month construction schedule.
The City Council unanimously approved the order.
