After constant delays, Everett City Council approves Sofia TIF Donation Agreement

By Neil Zolot

  In a Special Meeting on Monday, June 30, the City Council finally approved the 14-year Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement with developers Fulcrum Global Investors, now using the name The Sofia 380 Second Street Limited Liability Company, for a planned for a 620-unit/21-story mixed-use building on the site of a long unused building that once housed an auto-find company, a Brazilian church and a lift truck service. But not without the usual fits and starts associated with Everett politics. The full agreement now awaits an expected signature by Mayor Carlo DeMaria and will require approval by the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance.

The TIF was approved June 9, without final wording of a Donations Agreement under which the Sofia would contribute $1.2 million annually to a Good Neighbor Fund for distribution to the City government and social service agencies. It was in effect from that date, but official approval was scheduled for June 23. It was supposed to be just a formality. “What was voted on can’t be rescinded,” Director of Planning and Community Development Matt Lattanzi told The Advocate. “The developer didn’t ask for a TIF, we did. This is the type of building Everett needs. A consultant verified it needed a TIF.”

“We had the TIF before us when we passed it,” Council President Stephanie Martins said during the meeting. “We added to an agenda so people could see the Donation Agreement and what was in it.”

Except for a few minor clerical changes that needed to be made, everything was ready June 23, but, primarily at the behest of Councillor-at-Large John Hanlon, the Council tabled action based on not having a legal copy of the full TIF. Once again, it was delayed until June 30.

Immediately, Councillor-at-Large Stephanie Smith threw a monkey wrench into the proceedings by asking for the matter to be divided into two sections for the Donation Agreement. Her motion was approved, 6-1, with Hanlon voting no with Councillors-at-Large Guerline Alcy Jabouin and Michael Marchese, Ward 3 Councillor Anthony DiPierro and Ward 5 Councillor Robert Van Campen absent. Martins explained that they had prior commitments.

“I’m opposed to the entire project and this type of business,” Hanlon said in reference to the idea of a TIF just before adjournment. “This will hurt the City. Millions in profits will not come back to Everett.”

A sticking point was who would pay about $1,500 in legal fees to set up a nonprofit entity to distribute the donated funds. Fulcrum Director of Development and Acquisitions John Brainard told the members provisions for the City to pay were included “because government documents would be set up by you because we’re not distributing the funds.”

Ward 6 Councillor Peter Pietrantonio asked the money to be added to the $1.2 million, figuring “it’s not asking much.”

Brainard answered that he needed approval from Fulcrum principal Scott Brown for the expenditure. “We’ll pay,” he reported after a phone call with Brown.

Members of the public, mainly union members who will get jobs from the project, have spoken in favor of it at numerous meetings.

The members also approved changes suggested by Smith to open affordable housing for veterans for “all income eligible veterans,” not just ones who may be homeless.

Ward 4 Councillor Holly Garcia asked that the tax-exempt status of the 62 affordable units be rescinded, which would increase the assessed value of the building and increase taxes paid to the City.

Lattanzi advised “that would be a substantial change to what was in the agreement to make this financially viable. If the exemption is lost, they’d have to pay more taxes, but in order to make up for that, you’d have to do something else.”

City Clerk Sergio Cornelio added that any change in the finances must originate from the Mayor’s Office. As he had stated on June 23, he confessed, “Dividing the questions makes it confusing.”

Garcia added that a final vote should be made with a full Council, but Smith cautioned, “If we lay it on the table, the Donations Agreement doesn’t get in the TIF.

Brainard also cautioned, “This can’t wait,” an allusion to the final pressure on the project. “We’re looking forward to moving forward with the project.”

Garcia’s idea and unstructured discussion about making amendments to the TIF in the future took a back seat to Smith’s motion to approve things as they were, which was approved 5-2, with Garcia and Smith herself dissenting. “It’s over,” she conceded.

Other business

In other news, access to the City Clerk’s Office on the ground floor of City Hall will be limited to Monday, July 14–Wednesday, July 17, but it will be open through a side door. “We’ll be working,” City Clerk Sergio Cornelio said. “We won’t be closed, but under construction. No one will be denied service.”

The work will be replacing the original front counter, which dates to 1960. “We got our money’s worth, but it’s time to upgrade,” Cornelio feels.

July is a slow month for business, so it’s an opportune time for the renovation.