Game Continues For Framingham Arcade Building
For Alison Steinfeld, community and economic development director in Framingham, there is not much she can do about the defunct development known as The Arcade that sits directly across the street from her Town Hall office.
In the latest installment of the ongoing saga, Boston-based First Union Trade Bank purchased a commercial property once associated with the development for $2.5 million at a foreclosure auction directly before the New Year.
That came just a few weeks after Framingham Co-Operative Bank purchased a strip of multi-family homes on nearby Frederick Street at a foreclosure auction in late 2009.
The two parcels were supposed to be combined, razed and redeveloped into a mixed-use commercial and residential complex, but that never happened.
Now, with both of the properties in the hands of the banks that foreclosed on them, town officials like Steinfeld are waiting for the banks' next move.
Auction Block Gamble
In the mid-2000s, Newton-based development company Framingham Acquisition LLC had grand plans to construct a commercial-residential mixed-use development at the site in Framingham's downtown. But financing for the project fell through, the company declared for bankrupcy and the project never got off the ground.
Today, The Arcade building sits on the equivalent of Framingham's Main Street directly across from Town Hall. It houses a pharmacy, a pet store and a couple of offices on the upper floors. The concrete building has the words "The Arcade" etched in the stone above the main entrance of the building.
"The building itself has a tremendous amount of potential, it's a beautiful building," said Steinfeld. "But the ultimate reuse will be determined by the market."
At two separate auctions in the last few months, Framingham Co-Op and First Union Trade bought the properties they foreclosed on when Framingham Acquisition stopped making loan payments. Framingham Co-Op paid $705,000 for the residential properties on Frederick Street and First Union paid $2.5 million for the commercial site on Concord Street.
In some sense the banks reclaiming ownership of the properties has been a good thing for the town.
According to the Framingham tax collector's office, since the December auction of the Frederick Street residential properties to Framingham Co-Operative Bank, more than $20,000 in back taxes have been paid to the town.
That still leaves more than a half-million dollars of taxes owed to the community from the commercial property - and interest is accruing daily.
Steinfeld said she hasn't reached out to the banks yet to see what their plans are. She said she expects the banks to flip the properties and resell them, but she has no expectations of when that will be or what, if any, work the banks would do on the properties before then.
Both banks declined to comment for this story.
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