CMMC Only Group Making Progress In Marconi Campus Renovation

by Alan Pollock

            CHATHAM —  Town officials are one-for-three in their efforts to find non-profit groups to renovate and occupy the three sets of buildings on the Marconi-MCI campus in Chathamport, selectmen learned last week.  The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMMC) is the only prospective lessee making progress toward raising funds and starting work.

            The Chatham Housing Authority dropped out of consideration early in its proposal to renovate two of the single-family brick homes on the property for use as affordable housing, saying the project wasn’t cost effective.  The third prospective lessee, the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association (CCCHFA) has not advanced its application to use the so-called hotel building, citing concerns about lease terms.

            The historic buildings are owned by the town, which hopes to lease parts of the campus to organizations willing to restore, renovate and occupy the buildings.  Consultant Alan McClennen, Jr., told the board of selectmen last week that the Marconi center began raising money and drafting plans to build a wireless museum and educational center in the campus’ operations building.

            But in an Aug. 5 letter to the town, Paul Parker of the Hook Fishermen’s Association reported that his organization had made no further program on a capital campaign and had ceased planning to renovate the hotel building.  Parker said his board of directors, and potential donors for the project, recommended waiting until the CCCHFA and the town can mutually agree on the length and rate of the lease.

            “They have made it fairly clear to us, in three letters that they’ve sent us, that they’re not going to do anything until I, acting for you, give them a 99-year lease for a dollar.  And I’ve told you from day one that I’m not  going to do that,” McClennen said.  It makes for bad public policy to give away a resource for that length of time, he said.  “No one in this room will be here in 99 years,” he said.

            While the CCCHFA’s designation has technically expired, McClennen advised selectmen to extend it through Oct. 1, to allow the group to take up the matter at its September board meeting.  There is no harm in such a delay, he said, “but at that point, they either produce what they agreed to produce in their tentative designation letter, or you will then be faced with the issue of de-designation.”

            Instead of a long-term $1 lease, McClennen proposed that the lessees be charged market rates for the properties, but with a financial credit equal to the amount they’ve invested in the renovation.  That “prepaid rent” would be amortized to determine the appropriate time period for the lease, he said.

            The Marconi group agreed with that lease structure, and has embarked on a three-year capital campaign to raise $600,000, and so far, $285,000 in gifts and pledges has been received, CMMC President Charles Bartlett wrote in a letter to the town in late July.  Bartlett estimated that the cost to renovate the inside of the operations building would be $748,363, with other expenses pushing the cost closer to $1 million. 

            Those numbers assume that the project will be held to the standards of the state’s prevailing wage law, like any other state or municipal project.  The town sought special legislation to exempt the whole project from the prevailing wage law, but lawmakers on Beacon Hill balked at the proposal.  Instead, town officials asked State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, to file a new bill seeking to exempt only a portion of the project from the prevailing wage laws, and that legislation is still pending.  Bartlett said if a prevailing wage exemption cannot be obtained, CMMC’s plans may not be feasible.

            Bartlett indicated that the cost of renovating the 1940s wooden addition to the operations building would be higher than expected, and said the group is looking at the feasibility of demolishing that portion of the building and constructing a separate addition behind the brick operations building.  Doing so would save CMMC money, and would also provide cost savings for the town, which appropriated funds to renovate the outsides of the Marconi buildings. 

            “There will be savings to us because we won’t have to spend money on the existing addition,” McClennen told selectmen. 

            A close examination of the hotel building showed significant deterioration of the steel lintels that hold up the second story above the front porch, McClennen said.  That discovery has added to the projected cost of renovating that building, he said.

             Selectman Len Sussman noted the 10-year anniversary of the town’s purchase of the property is about to arrive.

            “Maybe in celebration of that 10 years we ought to decide to move or not move, or do something with the property,” he said.  “It’s a valuable asset.  It’s a gorgeous building, it has a lot of potential.”    

            Selectman David Whitcomb said the Hook Fishermen’s Association has made it clear that they don’t agree with the town’s lease proposal, and the town has balked at their suggestion that taxpayers fund the cost of renovating the hotel building.  Also, the Hook Fishermen have indicated that they will be unable to go forward unless the prevailing wage law exemption is obtained, Whitcomb said.

            “In light of those three things, I don’t see a commitment on their part to move forward,” he said.

            McClennen said he did not see the benefit to canceling the Hook Fishermen’s tentative lease designation until the group’s board of directors has a chance to weigh the issue again.  “But clearly, the time has run out in my opinion.”  On a motion by Selectman Debbie Connors, selectmen voted unanimously to extend the tentative designation for the hook fishermen’s association until Oct. 1. 

9/4/08