Following lawsuit, developer pulls plug on proposed 1.2M-sq.-ft. Hudson warehouse

Photo | Courtesy David Simpson Aerial view of Hudson's Intel property and The Villages at Quail Run

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By Timothy Doyle

Atlanta developer Portman Industrial, a division of Portman Holdings has withdrawn a proposal to build a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse on Hudson property currently occupied by Intel Corp., following a lawsuit by its neighbors to stop the project.

The Hudson Planning Board voted unanimously to accept Portman’s request to withdraw the application, said Kristina Johnson, Hudson’s director of planning and community development.

The group requested in a letter to the Planning Board to withdraw the proposal without prejudice, which leaves the door open for the project to be resubmitted, but that is unlikely, said Johnson.

“In my opinion, Portman’s decision to withdraw their application is two-fold, the uncertainty of a satisfactory outcome with the local and commonwealth permitting processes, and the general reduction of logistics warehouse development due to the rise in interest rates,” Johnson said in an email to WBJ.

Portman did not respond to a request for comment.

A coalition of residents of two abutting 55-and-over residential communities filed a complaint in October arguing a true assessment of community impact could not be made because the tenant of the proposed warehouse was not known.

“We’ll never know what the reasons are, but we suspect delays resulting from the lawsuit were a part of it,” said David Simpson, a member of the group that filed the lawsuit.

The presumptive deadline for a trial in that lawsuit would have been in early 2024.

The Intel property abuts The Villages at Quail Run and WestRidge Condominiums, a combined 386 units of 55-and-over housing, as well as Hudson Children's Center, which offers programs for children kindergarten-age and younger.

“The developer didn’t attempt to establish any rapport with the community,” said Simpson.

The residents raised $50,000 for legal fees and hired Michael Pill of Green Miles Lipton, LLP in Northampton to represent the group.

Because the true nature of the tenant was not known, the developer was able to use lower traffic impact estimates than what may have been reality, said Simpson.

Now that the warehouse plan has been scrapped, the group of residents next wants to change the town’s zoning laws for industrial properties.