Former Fall River police station could provide 30 new apartments

FALL RIVER – Matthew Thomas isn’t tooting his own horn, but he thinks the $10,000 purchase and sales agreement to convert the old police station on Bedford Street into apartments is a sound one.

“I think it’s a pretty good P and S agreement,” he said Monday.

Thomas, who has a law office in New Bedford but also provides real estate-related legal advice to municipalities including Fall River, Seekonk and Swansea, discussed the purchase and sales agreement last Thursday night with the City Council’s real estate subcommittee.

The three-person subcommittee voted unanimously to approve the agreement and send it to the council of a whole, which will take up the measure on Aug. 11.

If the City Council approves the agreement it will go to the desk of Mayor Paul Coogan for his signature.

The redevelopment and “adaptive reuse” of the old police station, which has sat dormant for more than two decades, would result in 30 market rate apartments, Thomas said.

He said the request for proposal (RFP) issued by the city included a preference that the four-story building not be demolished.

Thomas, however, said the only party responding to the RFP said it would be financially untenable, and instead agreed to utilize a technique known as a “facadectomy” — wherein the façade is retained while all or most of the building is demolished and rebuilt.

This was the fourth time the city had issued and advertised a request for proposal. The previous three had failed to elicit a single response.

The interested buyer is Chelsea-based Wethersfield LLC. Thomas said the company has signed the P&S agreement and has since made an $8,200 deposit toward the purchase price of $10,000.

Terms of the agreement stipulate that the sales contract must be signed and finalized by all parties by Dec. 31.

Cleanup and remediation of the contaminated site, as well as all permitting and financial arrangements, must be completed within the next calendar year so that construction can begin by 2022.

A certificate of occupancy, Thomas said, would be issued no later than 2023.

“This way he’ll have a year to get his permitting and financing in place,” Thomas said.

He noted that the former police headquarters at the corner of Bedford and High streets fits the definition of a brownfield and is beset with oil contamination, asbestos and mold infestation.

Marc Lederman is listed as manager of Wethersfield LLC. He also owns Lederman Engineering Inc., also of Chelsea.

Lederman told the real estate committee that he’s been redeveloping properties since 1995.

“I buy, I fix and I rent,” he said.

Thomas said he spoke to four references in regard to Lederman’s professional track record and that they all gave him “high grades.”

“We’re ready to act, but it depends on how long it takes to get permits and plans in place and how fast the zoning and building departments act,” Lederman said.

Committee chair Leo Pelletier said he wholeheartedly supports Lederman and his proposal.

“We can almost guarantee they (city departments and officials) won’t give you a hard time,” Pelletier said, adding that “I’m sure you’re gonna do things right.

“I’ve got to give you credit, it’s a big undertaking.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work,” Lederman said.

Pelletier asked whether the old Fall River jail cells might be preserved.

Lederman said they conceivably could be reused as a storage area for tenants but that “it depends on the layout and (final) design.”

Lederman said his “biggest concern” in terms of design and building requirements is providing “sufficient window space and ventilation.”

In response to a question from committee member Trott Lee Joseph, he said underground parking is not feasible and that a combination of on-street and “some garage space” parking requiring a zoning variance might be the solution.

“I’m on board. It takes a lot of guts on your part,” Pelletier said, adding that “this has been a headache for 23 years.”

“I’m glad you’re on board. Now we have to make sure the bank is on board,” Lederman said.

“I really wish you well on this. You’ll probably get the key to the city,” said committee member Brad Kilby.

“As an administration we’re happy to have you aboard,” said Mary Sahady, the city’s director of financial services, who was also at the meeting — which was closed to the public due to the pandemic but was broadcast on local cable TV.

Thomas says the property to date has accumulated approximately $80,000 in back taxes and penalties.

He said if Wethersfield LLC were to sell the property to a nonprofit group within the first 10 years that owner would be responsible for a payment in lieu of taxes, also known as a PILOT, to the city.

Thomas also said the P&S agreement states that the city’s approval would be required in the event that the property is conveyed to another party within the first four years of ownership.