Westborough Developer Invests In Shrewsbury | CenTech Park East lands in private hands
A Westborough developer who purchased an 84-acre industrial park in Shrewsbury late last month said in a recent interview that business interest in his new property appears strong.
Bob Moss of Westborough-based Moss Development Inc. purchased CenTech Park East for $3 million from the Worcester Business Development Corp. Moss said that his new property has already drawn three “serious inquiries” in the past several months from companies, though he declined to name them.
Zoning on the land allows for offices and warehouse and distribution facilities, among other types of development, Moss said.
Moss attributed the interest in the property to companies starting to come out of the recession.
“They’re starting to see some growth,” he said. “They’re planning for what their needs are a year-and-a-half from now.”
Moss said that he may sell some of the four parcels and he may build on and lease the others.
“I’m flexible on either approach, depending on the user,” he said.
The WBDC bought the land, part of the former Grafton State Hospital grounds, from the state last year.
Legal Troubles
Moss said he became acquainted with the CenTech East parcel while working out a deal on an abutting 23-acre parcel on Green Street, where Moss hopes to build a subdivision. He ran into a snag after the Shrewsbury Board of Selectmen claimed they still had the right of first refusal on the land, which is designated as forestry land under a law known as Chapter 61. The town said Moss’s original $1.3-million offer to the landowner did not constitute a “bona fide offer.”
Chapter 61 allows property owners to pay lower property taxes in exchange for maintaining the land as open space. In exchange, the town gets the right of first refusal, which is the chance to match any offer for the land within a certain time period.
Moss disputes Shrewsbury’s claim that his offer on the Green Street property is not valid and said the town missed its 120-day window to match his purchase and sale offer.
Moss filed suit against the town last month, asking a judge to declare his agreement with the owners to be valid.
Other than their proximity to each other, the CenTech project and the Green Street subdivision are unrelated, Moss said.
Job Growth
CenTech Park East is on CenTech Boulevard, which connects Route 20 in Shrewsbury and Route 30 in Grafton. The park is situated near the Grafton MBTA Commuter Rail station and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.
Across the street, just over the Grafton town line, is the original CenTech Park, a 121-acre industrial park developed by the WBDC. Tenants there include Primary Colors, UMass, Verrillon, IMC, IDEXX, and State Street Bank.
State and federal funding totaling $3 million paid for water, electric, sewer and gas utilities as well as the 1,800-foot access road that splits the two parks.
The WBDC worked with Shrewsbury town officials to secure the funding for the project.
Moss said that the project would not have been possible without that government investment.
“The way you generate jobs and grow the tax base is to try to get some infrastructure in,” he said. “I don’t think otherwise that it would have been economically feasible.”
Julie Holstrom, project manager for WBDC, said that the goal of the project is to create approximately 650,000 square feet of industrial development and approximately 600 jobs.
“It’s a big win for the town in terms of looking at doing an active development on a piece of property that otherwise has been vacant for a number of years and not really contributing much in terms of job creation or tax base,” Holstrom said.
Kristen Wilson, Shrewsbury’s principal planner and economic development coordinator, said that town officials don’t yet know what Moss will propose to build on the land, which is zoned for industrial.
The zoning allows for buildings of up to 50 feet in height and because the park has been designated a priority development site under the state’s Chapter 43D law, which requires that all local permitting must take six months or less, Wilson said.
Chapter 43D, passed in 2006, provides state funding opportunities for consulting and staffing as well as priority consideration for brownfields remediation assistance to communities that opt in.
Such priority properties must be zoned commercial or industrial and must have the capacity to support 50,000 square feet of development or more.
The park is Moss’s first substantial foray into industrial development in the area.
Moss is currently building apartment communities in Sudbury and Southborough. In Shrewsbury, the first of eight buildings are built and occupied at the Madison Place apartments, which will contain 96 units when complete.
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