Real Estate & Land Development Forum with MassDOT’s Dana Levenson and Bill Tuttle
June 4, 2012
With Memorial Day past us, we’re getting into the summer season here at ABC. But we’re still as busy as usual, as evidenced by Wednesday’s meeting of our Real Estate and Land Development Forum. Chaired by David Perry of Hines and Dan St. Clair of Spaulding Slye/Jones Lang LaSalle, the committee focuses on real estate development, with a particular focus on the relationship between real estate and transportation infrastructure. We could think of no better guest to address the group than Dana Levenson, the new Chief Financial Officer of MassDOT. Mr. Levenson was joined by Bill Tuttle, Deputy Director of MassDOT’s Office of Real Estate and Asset Development. The main topic of discussion was a project Mr. Levenson told ABC about earlier in the year: an effort to inventory everything that MassDOT owns, from roads, bridges and tunnels to parcels of land. The initial list is mostly complete, and there’s a lot on it: 13,000 separate items in the first pass. Of those, there are some 1,400 parcels of land. Some of those are connected to current or future transportation projects and will likely stay MassDOT’s property. Others, though, may be surplus – parcels that MassDOT took in order to build a road or a railroad track, for example. The next step in the process is to determine what can actually be sold and to figure out a way to go about selling it. One idea would be to hire a consultant to help catalogue and value the property. Another would be to “crowdsource” it: put the list online and let the public come up with proposals. MassDOT will decide on a way forward in the next few months, and we look forward to having them back for an update. Many of the ABC members present were real estate developers, and many have experience working with the state on real estate projects. We learned that MassDOT is currently working on a manual to help govern deals between the public and private sector, and ABC will be working with our members to provide feedback on that process. Mr. Levenson also spoke to the overall condition of the state’s transportation finances. While Massachusetts is better off than many other states, our reliance on debt to pay for transportation – including basic maintenance and operations work – is a looming problem that will only get worse as the bonds the state has taken out come due. The amount owed is so great that it would likely swamp any windfall MassDOT can expect from selling off its surplus real estate assets. So while real estate deals may be part of a more comprehensive transportation finance plan, they won’t solve the whole problem. Thanks to Dana and Bill and to all our members who attended the meeting. It was a great kick-off to the summer season of meeting here at ABC.
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Jul 06, 2013 at 10:08 AM
I agree with Adam. I live in Port Norfolk, just off the western side of the bdrige. Moving there in November I was excited to ride my bike to North Quincy everyday but very quickly learned that that wasnt going to happen. I refuse to ride on the sideWALK ever but people approach highway speeds on the bdrige forcing cyclists against a wall just low enough to snag a pedal. Riding on the sidewalk isnt much safer though the rail on the road side is low and often broken and the one on the outside is enough to make you dizzy. It is an embarrassment to engineering and a threat to anyone who crosses it. I like to discuss biking issues with people because it brings out a very important issue in our city infrastructure. Roads and bdriges have never been built in a manner looking forward but always as a way to deal will current issues. Beyond the most basic of signage and and signals there is very little standardization to traffic flow. Two years ago I went to Vancouver and was very impressed with how well integrated driving, cycling, and walking were on the roads and the key to it was consistency. Every road that gets repainted should include a bike line, horizontal drain covers should be eliminated, busy intersections should include lights specific for cyclists, and, most importantly, we need to build for tomorrow instead of yesterday.