April 15,2008 From www.masslive.com
April 15, Northampton - The city has cleared the legal logjam holding up construction on the Hilton Garden Inn.
The 101-room hotel will rise five stories above Pulaski Park from an acre of prime real estate in the Roundhouse parking lot below. It has been the center of a storm of public criticism since the city accepted the bid from the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group to buy the parcel for $1. The only other bidder, Tryumph Management Group, proposed building commercial office space on the site. Although Tryumph bid $750,000 for the land, the city determined that the hotel would generate more money for the public coffers over a 10-year period.
Tryumph and its principal owner, Robert Curran, were the plaintiffs in three of the four suits involving the hotel project. A Hampshire Superior Court judge rejected a claim by Tryumph that the city violated state law by accepting the bid from the hotel group. Tryumph also sued over the toxic waste cleanup performed by Bay State Gas on the site where the hotel will be built. The waste was buried there by the former Northampton Gas & Light Co., which was one of the companies that merged to form Bay State Gas. Curran owns the Roundhouse building, which is also in the parking lot next to where the hotel will rise.
Both Tryumph and New South Street Limited sued the Planning Board for granting site plan approval for the hotel. New South Street Limited owns a multi-unit apartment building on New South Street. The residents of that building presently enjoy an unobstructed view of the Holyoke Range, but the hotel will block that vista.
According to a press release from Mayor Mary Clare Higgins, all four suits have been settled out of court. As part of the settlement, the city will used federal Community Development Block Grant funds to make capital improvements to the New South Street apartments. In exchange, those units will remain affordable for an additional 25 years beyond their current obligation.
The Pioneer Valley Hotel Group and the city will also work together to bury power lines across Pulaski Park between Memorial Hall and the Roundhouse. Again, Northampton will use Community Development Block Grant money for its share of the work.
The hotel group has agreed to make design changes in the project, including additional windows and a greenhouse on the side of the hotel facing the apartments. It will also provide parking for the tenants of that building.
Higgins said she was confident that the city would have won the suits in court but wanted to expedite the project. She estimated that a four-year delay would have cost the city $100,000 in legal fees and another $600,000 in lost tax revenues.
"This settlement provides design improvements that the Pioneer Valley Hotel Group and the city are willing to do and that will improve the project," Higgins stated. "Our out-of-pocket expenses to comply with this settlement will be far less than the costs of any litigation."
Editor: Haijing Qu
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