NORTHAMPTON — A leading Boston real estate brokerage firm, commissioned by a group of Boston citizens critical of the city’s financial and urban planning policies, concludes that Northampton overpaid by as much as $1.5 million for the downtown building that will house the proposed Community Resilience Hub.
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, however, stands behind the city’s assessment and purchase of the former First Baptist Church, pointing out that the city engaged a local real estate agency that sent representatives to inspect the site as part of the process.
The latest appraisal, conducted by a broker in the Boston office of Colliers International, a publicly traded company and one of the world’s largest real estate brokerages, puts the estimated value of the building at 298 Main Street at $1.6 million, about half of the $3.1 million the city paid for the property to its previous owner, local real estate mogul Eric Suher.
Colliers’ appraisal report also states that an error occurred in the property’s first appraisal, awarded by the city to Bennett Franklin Real Estate of East Longmeadow and conducted in December 2022, when the property’s value was reported at $3.3 million.
“The appraisers do not provide a reasoned analysis with good documentation and findings,” the report states. In addition, they “do not believe that the valuation is reliable within reasonable limits.”
The Colliers report said the building’s value was determined in part by looking at other similar sales of nearby or related properties, such as the building at 1 King Street, which sold to JPMorgan Chase for $1.3 million on September 16, 2022, and the former St. John Cantius Church at 10 Hawley Street, which sold for $1.2 million on March 16, 2020.
The report is addressed to Rutherford Platt, a professor emeritus of geography at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a longtime critic of Northampton’s city planning policies, including the Picture Main Street project – a proposed $21 million redesign of the city’s Main Street. In an interview, Platt said he and several other local residents, including business owners and people who work in real estate, had banded together to pay for the second estimate.
“Something didn’t feel right about this purchase,” Platt said. “A lot of other people said the same thing, because there were other churches in town that sold for much less.”
In a statement to the Gazette, Sciarra pointed out that according to the report by Colliers Bennett-Franklin, all standards applicable to the valuation of the property had been properly followed.
“The city’s assessment was fully compliant with all standards applicable to the work,” Sciarra said. “The city conducted the procurement process in accordance with statutory procurement requirements, which included the City Council’s orders.”
Sciarra also pointed out in her testimony that the Colliers agent made the appraisal even though, unlike the Bennett-Franklin agents, he had never personally visited the First Baptist Church building.
“The privately paid reviewer may have a different opinion, but that is based on the fact that he never set foot in the building he reviewed,” Sciarra said. “It is disheartening that someone would be so opposed to a project that has been years in the making and that includes and represents the work of so many stakeholders.”
The city’s Bennett-Franklin assessment includes a copy of an email that former Planning and Sustainability Director Wayne Feiden sent to the real estate company to formally request the assessment. The email, dated Nov. 17, 2022, shows that the city had already signed an option to purchase the building from Suher before having the property assessed.
“We have signed an option to purchase the building for $3.3 million or a lease option (triple net) for $235,000 per year,” Feiden wrote in the email. “We believe both prices are below market based on what we have seen from the market, but we are well aware that our needs are unique.”
The Bennett-Franklin report is dated December 6, 2022. The following day, the city issued a press release officially announcing that it had signed a purchase option with Suher, which was exercised in May 2023.
Additionally, on the Commercial Property Record Card for 298 Main St. from the city’s Assessor’s Office, the property is both appraised and valued at $1.2 million. The card indicates that the appraisal is based on a cost approach method, which determines value based on the cost to construct an equivalent building.
Although the city first announced the purchase of the building in December 2022 and has held several public meetings about the Resilience Hub since then, the purchase came into greater focus last spring during the contentious fiscal year 2025 budget discussion, which focused on cuts to the school system. Critics of the budget claimed during public hearings that the city spent too much money on the Resilience Hub, rather than allocating the extra money to the school district instead.
Criticism also came from opponents of the city’s Picture Main Street project, which will involve extensive construction on Main Street starting in 2025, parallel to the renovation of the Resilience Hub building.
The money to purchase the Resilience Hub site came largely from one-time payments and grants, including $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and another $1.4 million in cannabis community impact fees. Money was also provided through Community Development Block Grants and donations from Smith College. The Picture Main Street project is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Once completed, which is expected to be in late 2025, the centre will serve as a multi-purpose centre, including housing for the homeless and for the community during climate emergencies. It will also provide a regular meeting space and serve as the headquarters for several community services. The idea for the centre dates back to 2016, when the city council’s Community Resources Committee commissioned a study to improve the local economy.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at [email protected].
