Total of 90 waterfront acres in Fall River, Somerset
The company owned by Everett developer William Thibeault recently placed “for sale or lease” about 90 acres on industrial sites with deep water access along the Fall River and Somerset sides of the Taunton River.
At the former Montaup Electric Co. power plant on the west side of the river and the former Weaver’s Cove Shell Oil tract on the east side, large blue and white advertising went up on March 23, according to a Thibeault Development person answering the listed phone number.
They declined to provide any price or further information beyond that the Montaup site includes 20 acres on Riverside Avenue. It includes approximately 2,000 feet of water frontage.
In mid-February Somerset Riverside 1606 LLC subdivided 20.2 waterfront acres into three lots of 8.4, 7.2 and 4.6 acres that met zoning codes and the Planning Board signed off on the application.
They gave no information about potential reuse.
The sale sign boasts a deepwater dock of 500 feet.
The similar new Weaver’s Cove sign at North Main and New streets advertises “70+ acres will subdivide or build to suit.”
Municipal officials in both communities said they were not aware of plans for the two problematic industrial sites that Thibeault’s limited liability companies bought during the past several years.
In February 2016 Thibeault Development LLC acquired the former Hess LNG site off North Main Street under Weaver's Cove Industrial Park LLC for $1.3 million.
It’s the location where 15 years ago Weaver’s Cove Energy LLC proposed bringing LNG tankers through the Narragansett Bay and Mount Hope Bay waters to a proposed terminal.
According to the Fall River assessors office, several parcels totaling about 70 acres and including a 50-acre dockyard between the Old Colony Railroad and the Taunton River are assessed at slightly over $4.5 million. Assessor Ben Mello said he understood taxes are paid up to date.
City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros said, “We haven’t been notified of anything.”
Thibeault, whose business buys distressed properties with large real estate holdings in the Boston area and ownership of distressed properties in the eastern part of the state, has battled the city on another front, she said.
The Conservation Commission denied his application to bring fill to the site. “We wanted clean fill,” Viveiros said, stating what was proposed was not satisfactory.
Thibeault filed an appeal to the denial that remains unresolved, Viveiros said.
He did not respond to messages for comment left at the same listed phone number for both sites.
Viveiros said the gated Weaver’s Cove Industrial Park containing toxic materials remains under Shell’s responsibility for the continuing cleanup. The state Department of Environmental Protection has been involved.
Thibeault has shown a slick business approach with deep pockets to acquiring the Montaup property.
In October 2013 his $3.95 million offer at a bankruptcy foreclosure auction at the site outbid a second bidder by $25,000.
The bankrupt owner, Asset Recovery Group, never paid Somerset any of the approximately $300,000 it owed after acquiring the coal-fired power plant that closed after government decree in January 2010.
Thibeault Development is up to date on its approximately $117,000 in annual property taxes and paid off the tax liability of the prior company, according to the Somerset tax collector’s office.
Thibeault’s purchase from that 2013 auction was delayed. Five months later in March 2014 his LLC bought the property with approximately 38 acres on both sides of Riverside Avenue for $2.55 million.
In May 2016, a couple of months after buying four parcels of Weaver’s Cove, Thibeault began stockpiling old vehicles, trucks and buses for another person’s business to ship them to undeveloped countries by barge. The owner carved out a .99-acre parcel on the water near the power plant.
The auto shipping business person never obtained the necessary permits from the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies. For nearly two years, dozens of vehicles sat dormant on the site until being removed early this year to the satisfaction of town officials.
Keeping that lot under an acre and confirming to zoning, the owner did not require a special permit from the town. It's assessed at $563,000, according to assessor's records.
Thibeault more than recovered his purchase price of Montaup when on March 23, 2015 he sold 11 acres on the western side of Riverside Avenue opposite the power plant for $3.7 million to New England Power, a subsidiary of National Grid.
The utility lists plans to invest $39-45 million to rebuild its outdated substation across Riverside Avenue from its existing power grid on the water side.
National Grid's updated website of this "Pottersville Substation Project" says they plan to build a 115-killovolt, 45-by-85-foot control house switching station without transformers.
The update says pending regulatory approvals, construction would begin this year and the new station put into service in 2020.
Thibeault’s company retained six acres on that westerly side of Riverside Avenue along Stevens Street to County Street (Route 138) they had rezoned commercial. Current holdings include the 20-plus acres on the waterfront recently divided into three lots.
The 20.6 acres is assessed at $2.1 million, not counting the .99-acre subdivided lot, Somerset assessors said.
The other six acres backing to Route 138 near the police and fire station is assessed at $1,374,500, the assessors office said.
Email Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com or call him at 508-676-2573.