NEW BEDFORD — The plan to redevelop State Pier into a multi-use space for retail shops, restaurants, offshore wind and a new seafood auction house has been put on hold.
MassDevelopment, a quasi-state agency, will issue a new request for proposals for developing the site after its provisional agreement with a group of businesses — which it selected late last year — expired, with the agency not agreeing to the proposed terms.
“Unfortunately, we have concluded that the feasibility of the redevelopment proposal depends on the occurrence of future events that are wholly outside the control of MassDevelopment, and therefore cannot be incorporated into a term sheet or a binding Property Development Agreement,” MassDevelopment wrote in a letter Tuesday to the prospective developers.
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A restaurant overlooking the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, an operations hub for the offshore wind industry, and a fish auction house where the public could see the daily catch being offloaded were all part of the vision drawn up by Taber’s Wharf Partners (TWP), a group involving several locals, including restaurateur Steve Silverstein; Ed Washburn, the former director of the New Bedford Port Authority and current managing director of Coast Line Transfers; and Cassie Canastra, director of operations at BASE.
Washburn, speaking on behalf of the partners, told The Light Wednesday that they were surprised and disappointed at MassDevelopment’s decision, and that they had expected there to be discussion between their final submission of project plans in June and the agency’s decision.
MassDevelopment, which manages the 8-acre, state-owned property, announced in December that it selected Taber’s Wharf Partners to develop the pier after putting out a request for proposals in April of 2022. The agency had received three bids.
The request for proposals was the initial step in an effort to make better use of and reinvest in the central but “underutilized” piece of New Bedford waterfront, as described by state and city officials.
Taber’s Wharf Partners, comprised of Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), Raw Seafoods, Servedwell Hospitality, Crowley Wind Services and Coast Line Transfers, entered a provisional agreement with the agency, activating a 180-day period (now expired) to work out a detailed development plan and agree to terms for commercial and legal rights required to achieve it.
In its decision to rebid the project, MassDevelopment cited entities and factors outside of its control, including state law.
“TWP’s final redevelopment proposal describes a project that can proceed only after (i) significant public investment in structural repairs to the pier; (ii) significant public investment in utilities and other infrastructure to serve the proposed uses; and (iii) significant public investment in an offsite parking garage, on a site that is not identified,” MassDevelopment wrote. “The final redevelopment proposal also is conditioned on a 10-year exclusive use period prior to the commencement of a 35-year lease term—a condition that is not expressly contemplated by the laws governing the use of the pier.”
Per a September presentation, TWP mentioned challenges to achieving its proposed development: the need for a longer lease, parking to support anticipated foot traffic, and capital investment.
Washburn said the partners had an expectation that the state would invest some of its own money to make necessary repairs on the pier before the private companies started building vertically on it.
He also said the 10-year exclusive use period was not conditional, and that they included it because they didn’t want the construction period for repair work to eat into their lease.
“The 10 years was kind of a number we threw out there; we expected it to be done sooner,” Washburn said.
The Light requested a copy from MassDevelopment and TWP of the recent June proposal. Washburn said it was about 80 pages and added more detail to their initial plans.
“MassDevelopment cannot proceed further given these new and material terms and conditions, none of which were identified in TWP’s response to the RFP,” the agency said in response. “MassDevelopment cannot agree or commit to any of these new terms and conditions without further action from other entities that MassDevelopment does not control.”
The process of selecting TWP was not without criticism. State legislators took issue with MassDevelopment, claiming the deal was “done entirely in the dark,” and that the agency thwarted efforts by state officials to obtain more information on the submitted proposals.
Lawmakers said they and the public should have had a chance to weigh in on the selection process because it is state property.
One of those critics was state Rep.Bill Straus, who, along with members of New Bedford’s delegation, filed public records requests last year on the process undertaken by MassDevelopment, and wrote to state Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao with their concerns.
“While I’m glad that the process is now going to be reopened … my positive feelings are tempered by the fact that we’ve lost a year-and-a-half because of the detrimental way MassDevelopment leadership had been running the show,” Straus told The Light Wednesday, citing “obvious legal problems” with the TWP proposal.
“Had the process been open, people could have pointed out immediately that they were submitting something MassDevelopment by law could not approve,” he continued.
State Sen. Mark Montigny in a statement said the proposal provided an “intriguing opportunity” to enact his yearslong vision of redeveloping the “severely underutilized asset” into a mixed-use facility, but still had criticisms of the process.
“From the outset, MassDevelopment’s process has been problematic, and it is questionable why this particular proposal would be rejected due to infrastructure needs that all the parties understood prior to entering into this provisional agreement,” he said. “… it is imperative that a solid development plan is selected so that the pier can be put to its highest and best use as soon as possible.”
He said MassDevelopment should review and refine its process to avoid “unnecessary delays” during the next request for proposals, and he implored the agency to “remedy its process in terms of transparency and public input.”
Mayor Jon Mitchell, who was involved in discussions with MassDevelopment through the bidding and selection process, said in a statement that he is confident the new round of request for proposals will not impede future redevelopment of the site.
“Over the last six months, the state has learned much about the steps necessary to secure the significant private sector investment now at hand,” he said. “The revising and the reissuing of the RFP reflects the state’s desire to ensure that the benefits of the public/private partnership are maximized.”
A spokesperson for Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao, who also chairs the board overseeing MassDevelopment, referred requests for comment to MassDevelopment.
A spokesperson for MassDevelopment said the agency looks forward to “an incredible opportunity to bolster economic development” in New Bedford by continuing the process for redevelopment of the State Pier, but did not provide responses to several questions.
MassDevelopment encouraged TWP to submit a bid when the new request for proposals is issued. Asked if they would, Washburn said they remain committed to New Bedford and would take a look at the new request when it is released.
“We’re not saying no to anything and we’ll certainly take a look at the RFP, but we thought we put together a pretty great plan, so we are disappointed we can’t get right to it.”
He said they had expected to open for business by 2026 or 2027.
It is unclear when MassDevelopment will issue the new RFP.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
