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— News and commentary about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News
(What do I now about my land hoarding jones?”)
Image via the Boston Globe
The Quincy City Conical rejected Mayor Koch’s proposal to buy the former Eastern Nazarene College’s 27 acre campus in the Wollaston flats.
The proposal needed a supermajority vote of at least 6 City Councillors in favor of it to pass.
Instead, the mayor’s ask was rejected by a supermajority of 6 to 3 against it.
Reasons for the no votes were based on concerns about the mayor’s extremely optimistic expectations and the city’s deteriorating deteriorating financial condition.
The City of Quincy’s financial situation is heading south
image via barrons.com
Simply put, the city’s financial situation is best summed up by how its credit rate has suffered two credit rating downgrades over the past year and a third cut posed as likely with the City of Quincy the most so dinged municipality in Massachusetts going away.
Rationals presented by councillors during the Finance committee meeting portion of the meeting also included how the Koch Maladministration was slow to providing council members with even the basic of informational asks to in some instances not providing of what was asked.
Quincy Quarry New’s Financial and other affairs desk poured through the mayor’s so-called plan as well as took in the maladministration various presentations to the council and found the objections of the councillors who voted against the mayor’s proposal soundly based.
One of three losing yes voters
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The small minority of the three councillors who voted in support of the plan were mostly thin. Two councillors posed basically pandering to voters statements that the acquisition would be a good one for the city even if any discussion of metrics was as thin as are the city’s finances.
On the other hand, most curious was how the most experienced of the three councillors laid out a litany of wide ranging concerns about the mayor’s proposal that was all but in lock step with those voting no only to still vote yes as he felt it to be the right thing to do.
No idea, if he suffered a groin injury while he straddled the fence, however,.
In any event, the proposal so died in committee and so was not considered the regular city council meeting half of the evening’s events.
Bag it and tag it
Image via the Reading Eagle
Even so, supporters of the plan unloaded on the councils voting no during the Open Forum portion of the meeting which allows the general public to address the council and which was pressed to happen by the super majority of the council elected last fall as promised transparency reform.
As could only be expected, supporters of the mayor’s plan were not pleased, often enough running over their allotted time with one at the end of things seeing the microphone cut off on her after she had been repeatedly told that her time had expired.
Even so, she would not stop talking until she was threatened by the Council President to be seen removed from the meeting by police before she finally left the podium in a huff.
Investors purchasing closed small colleges frequently face severe difficulties.
These challenges are typically tied to the complex nature of the properties, local regulations, and deferred maintenance, making successful redevelopment much more complicated than a standard commercial real estate deal.
Investors encounter several major obstacles when trying to revive these properties:
• Massive Deferred Maintenance: College campuses often contain a variety of specialized buildings (dormitories, laboratories, gymnasiums) requiring expensive environmental remediation (such as asbestos removal) and major structural or HVAC system upgrades.
• Building Layout Inefficiencies: Dorms and academic halls are difficult and costly to convert into profitable spaces like multi-family housing or senior care facilities.
• Zoning & Community Backlash: Campuses often come with historical designations, restrictive zoning, or location in dense, single-family neighborhoods. Proposed redevelopments (such as adding high-density housing or commercial spaces) are frequently met with strong community resistance and prolonged legal battles over traffic and environmental impacts.
• Complex Financing: The capital needed for the “adaptive reuse” of a sprawling campus is extraordinary. Banks and investors are often wary of the unique risks involved, requiring developers to piece together complicated funding stacks that include grants, tax credits, and loans.