construction – Everett Leader Herald

Over-development

There isn’t a homeowner in the city or an apartment dweller who isn’t inconvenienced in their lives by the over-development now taking place in every neighborhood in the city.

Capone spoke about this during a campaign rally Saturday.

He said the over-development needs to be controlled.

He is spot on about this.

If it cannot be controlled, then it needs to be guided by the mayor, or better yet, by someone interested in the well-being and the future of the city rather than an elected public official looking for quid pro quos at every corner, and on every street from developers looking to make a buck off the back of the city and its quality of life.

Development is important.

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ZBA OKs Spring St. skyrise complex

21-story building would kickoff ‘Triangle’ redevelopment

By JOSH RESNEK

The Zoning Board of Appeals has given unanimous approval for a 21-story apartment building to be built in the residential Triangle area of the city on Spring Street.

This approval does not guarantee the building will go up.

That will take a closer look at market conditions by developers and bankers who will need to raise and borrow about $200 million to make the building appear on a spot that was once one of the city’s most contaminated.

This new apartment house with a roof deck restaurant, with spectacular views of the Boston skyline, would be Everett’s largest and tallest apartment without peer.

Nothing but the Encore Hotel at the casino rises that high into the Everett sky.

It is believed this tall building in the Triangle could lead to two or three more tall buildings with more than 1,000 units of apartment housing.

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Stop wasting money on Norwood St. sidewalks

MARCH 19: A streetlight and the steeple of Immaculate Conception on Broadway. (Photo by Jim Mahoney)

The replacement of sidewalks on the right side of Norwood Street heading toward the square is a nice touch.

However, the redoing of sidewalks planned for the opposite side of Norwood Street is an incredible waste of money and symptomatic of the mayor’s mania to spend money when it is unnecessary to do so.

The mayor, we understand, cannot control himself when it comes to spending money, whether it is his own or the cities.

That’s a problem that needs looking into – not what he does with his own money – but rather, how he wastes the city’s money on projects like replacing sidewalks that are in perfect repair.

Who does such things when keeping cash on hand is so important to the city’s financial well-being?

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Spring St. revamp needed to go with proposed tower

Sky Everett project should kick-start massive remake of blighted area

By JOSH RESNEK

On its face, the suggestion of a development comprised of a 21 story apartment building with a rooftop restaurant with a big draw and 360 units is, frankly, a miracle waiting to happen.

Even in today’s hot real estate development marketplace in this city, not many would have predicted a many tens of millions of dollars 21 story proposal that boggles the mind.

The building permit alone for this project would give the city a whopping dump of free cash which is dependent on the total estimated construction cost.

Spring Street is not exactly Park Avenue. It isn’t even Park Avenue in Revere, for that matter.

Spring Street is about as ravaged a piece of squalid urban property that you can find.

Yet today, the land is worth millions.

The project will cost maybe $50 million or more – that is – if the project’s developer Steve Tocco can get the thing permitted by the city of Everett.

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Casino may not open in June; City officials had no idea

front page.jpg — At the center of this photograph a grandfather and his grandchild are enjoying a stroll through a new piece of green park growing across from the nearly completed Encore Casino and Hotel. It is
1p.m. Monday afternoon and there isn’t a bit of traffic.

By Josh Resnek

The June 23 opening date for the Wynn Encore casino and hotel has apparently been put off for at least a week or maybe two weeks according to Wynn CEO Matthew Maddox.

The nearly 3 million square foot mega project, the largest single business development in Massachusetts in state history, will likely have to wait until the beginning of July to open, according to a spate of articles following Maddox’s comments.

His comments came on May 9, during a first quarter earnings call, to investors and investment companies. “I don’t know if the opening date will be June 23 or a week or two later, because we’re going to make sure that it’s flawless,” Maddox said. “And clearly the regulatory complexity we’ve been through has been a challenge. And so now we’re doubling back. We may give ourself another week (or two), we may not. But the property looks great.”

News of the opening date change caught local politicians, and especially the mayor, by surprise.

No public comments about the delay were made to public officials here by Wynn Resorts executives on the ground in Everett, chief among them, John Tocco.

Tocco is Encore’s liaison to the city government.

“That shows you what they’re willing to tell us. What they are willing to tell us is whatever they want us to hear,” said Councilor Wayne Matewsky, a sharp critic of Encore’s ability to share important information with the city and with him.

The mayor did not respond to the Leader Herald’s request for a comment.

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