Update on Jan 21 CWDI Board Meeting

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Tom Puglisi

by Sharon Smith

I attended the January Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc. meeting via Zoom. There have been one-on-one conversations with four of the five new council members regarding this initiative. All conversations were productive and well-received. CWDI hopes to make a presentation at a February city council meeting, which will be open to the public. Approximately 250 responses were received for the BCT Designs survey conducted December 10th – January 20. The State continues to be involved and DHCD Secretary Holt remains committed to the the project. CWDI conducted most of the meeting in Closed Session to discuss potential proposals for uses of the property.

Update on Nov 19 CWDI Board Meeting

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Tom Puglisi

– by Sharon Smith

I attended the monthly meeting of CWDI yesterday and have a few updates. These updates are as I understood them.

Community Input: due to the covid restrictions CWDI will not be holding in-person meetings for community input as planned. Instead, they will post online a video and a questionnaire around December 10th. We will be able to add our comments to the questionnaire. It will be available for about a month, allowing everyone time to participate.

City Commissioners: CWDI will be offering a project update to the current city council at the December 14 meeting, unless they defer to the new council. An important question to be put before the council is approval of the port and gateway property transfer from the city to CWDI.

Peregrine Memory Care Facility: the reason for CWDI’s interest in the facility is that they have a mandate to seek economic development opportunities. The facility will not be on the water, but rather on the corner of the hospital property on Byrne Street (north? or east? corner). The facility is expected to create 65 – 80 jobs, with a payroll of $2-3 million and purchased goods and services of around $1 million. This allows the project to receive grants from the federal government for building-out the infrastructure for the entire site, which is projected to cost $8 million.

The meeting was then closed to the public as the Board went into closed session to discuss the proposals for businesses to locate on Sailwinds: RAR, Yacht Maintenance and Peregrine. None of the proposals under consideration are a done-deal.

CWDI Update – Oct 15, 2020

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Tom Puglisi

Sharon Smith, Chair of CAN’s Strategic Development Committee, provided the following report on the Oct 15th monthly meeting of Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc.

I attended CWDI’s monthly board meeting this morning. The agenda is attached. CWDI has/expects to receive $1.720M in State grants and is pursuing Federal economic development tax credits. High on the list of planned expenditures is a $300,000 promenade expansion for public access along the waterfront. BCT Design is under contract to assist with creating a conceptual master plan and marketing. Potential occupants of the property include a planned expansion of Yacht Maintenance, Peregrine Senior Living, and RAR brewery. The Peregrine project alone includes a $16M project cost and up to 100 employees and will occupy land on the edge of Sailwinds (not on the water). All funds received will be reinvested in the project for infrastructure development. Within the next two months CWDI will hold 7 – 8 public input sessions, which will be advertised online and in the Banner. The sessions will run approximately three hours each and participants will have the opportunity to work in small groups to offer suggestions on concept, design, development ideas, etc.