In a bid to renew the effort to develop Saccarappa Park, the city is offering more flexible construction terms as it works with a new group of developers.
Director of Economic and Community Development Erik Carson said he is working with four potential developers regarding the potential redevelopment of the park. Carson said the developers, whom he declined to name, have a deadline of March 15 to submit proposals. Carson said that he was approached by three of the developers since the last time the city sought proposals for the land and the final developer is one who submitted a proposal and was rejected last spring.
In the hopes of getting an attractive proposal, the city is willing to accept proposals that call for a smaller portion of the land to be left as a park. Last spring, the city sent out a request for proposals that required development on the park to leave about 40 percent of the land for a park, with the remaining 60 percent reserved for development.
In response to that request, the city only received two proposals, one of which specified that the bidder, former American Journal Publisher Harry Foote and his wife Anne, would pay $1,000 for the land, and then he would return the land to the city with the provision that it remain a park for at least 100 years.
The other proposal came from Brown Redevelopment Corp. of Scarborough. That proposal called for a 30,000-square-foot building that would have housed stores, medical offices and condominiums. The plan called for a building and adjoining parking lot to occupy 65 percent of the land, with the remaining 35 percent preserved as a park, which was a ratio below the 60/40 split outlined in the city’s request.
Brown Redevelopment Corp. also offered to pay just $1 for the property. The company explained at the time that they offered a low monetary figure because they planned on restoring and maintaining a portion of the land as public open space.
The city rejected both bids and went back to the drawing board. “We came to the decision that we needed to be more flexible,” said Carson.
Carson said the city’s goal is to develop the property while at the same time retaining the public’s access to the river with a “pocket park.” He said the city would like to keep the ratio of development to park in the range of 60/40 to 70/30. The type of building is sill “up in the air” but would most likely be a multi-use structure with retail and commercial space on the first floor and residential space on the floors above.
If the city and a developer come to an agreement as a result of this latest effort by the city, Carson said “the city would make a decision ideally within a month so we can move forward to take advantage of the building season.”
Carson estimated that once construction had begun, the park could have a new building on it within nine or 10 months depending upon site issues.
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