Hopedale factory owner, town officials, developer settle portion of eminent domain suit
Photo | Matt Wright
The former Draper mill site takes up a large chunk of of Hopedale's downtown. Here it is pictured before any of the original structure was demolished.
The owner of a dilapidated factory taking up a large portion of downtown Hopedale has settled a lawsuit with some of the 18 people and entities he sued in response to a proposed urban renewal plan of 77 acres of his property.
Philip Shwachman, CEO of Worcester-based First American Realty and the site's owner, has settled with the Hopedale Housing Authority and local developer Lobisser Building Corp., according to a court document on file in federal court in Massachusetts. Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed.
Hopedale officials and several private entities developed a plan that included an attempt to acquire the former Draper Corp. land and turn the property into a mixed-use development including retail, housing and commercial space to provide much-needed economic activity in town and rid the town of the 1-million-square-foot eyesore.
That plan included taking the property via eminent domain if the two sides didn’t agree on price. That threat brought Shwachman to bring suit against 18 defendants, including the town, all three members of the Board of Selectmen, the town administrator, the Grafton & Upton Railroad, Kevin Lobisser and the Lobisser Building Corp., the Hopedale Housing Authority, the Downtown Revitalization Committee and other officials and business entities formed for the project.
Calls to Lobisser, Shwachman and Town Administrator Steveh Sette were not immediately returned Friday.
The property, formerly the hope of manufacturing powerhouse Draper Corp., has been largely vacant for 40 years despite several redevelopment efforts that all eventually fizzled out.
The new plan calls for Lobisser to partner with the Grafton & Upton Railroad, which runs adjacent to the land and itself owns property near the mill. That partnership, Draper Falls, LLC, was incorporated in May 2018, but later cancelled that October, according to state business records.
Shwachman has maintained that he’s spent time, resources and money to rid the property of environmental hazards, secure the site and pursue redevelopment projects, but none have been made public or proposed to the town.
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