By Paul McMorrow
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer
 
MassDevelopment issued a request for proposals today seeking development bids for the historic core of the former Army base at Fort Devens.
 
The RFP, drafted in response to two unsolicited inquiries that MassDevelopment received this past summer, covers 435,000 square feet of existing space spread over seven buildings and 20 acres of land. The bulk of that space is in Vicksburg Square, a four-building, 410,000-square-foot quad. Vicksburg Square served as the Army’s site headquarters until the base’s closure in 1996.
 
The square’s four Georgian Revival buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that substantially affects a developer’s ability to alter buildings’ exteriors. The three-story brick structures have, by in large, stood vacant since the base closed.
 
“People want these buildings preserved,” said Edmund Starzec, a MassDevelopment project manager. “They’re not getting better as long as they stay unoccupied.”
 
Three of the buildings were built in 1929, the fourth in 1940.
 
While Devens’s master plan envisioned Vicksburg Square being used for offices, small business incubation, labs and meeting space, the RFP pointedly says MassDevelopment will consider bids for other uses. The agency is inviting residential proposals. Starzec said that since MassDevelopment took control of Devens, the agency has seen little, if any, interest in restoring Vicksburg Square for commercial or research use. “The buildings are long and narrow – it’s hard to get office or lab in there. Housing seems like a more natural fit.”
 
Residential projects have become incredibly difficult to finance of late. Lenders are ultra-cautious about funding rental construction, while condominium projects are all but blacklisted. Still, there’s a tremendous amount of economic activity around the old base that should spawn demand for housing. Ninety businesses call Devens home. Drug maker Bristol Myers-Squibb is currently building a $750 million manufacturing facility on the site. Green tech firm Evergreen Solar is constructing a $165 million, 450,000-square-foot plant. Both developments are two-phase projects; when complete, they’re expected to provide a total of 1,000 jobs.
 
“You’re going to have a lot of young technical people looking for a place to live,” Starzec said.
 
Devens occupies a netherworldly place in local and state bureaucracies. The 4,000-acre former Army base lies within the borders of the towns of Ayer, Harvard and Shirley, though MassDevelopment, a quasi-public state agency, collects all property taxes on the complex and administers all its municipal services. In 2006, voters in Ayer and Harvard beat back a movement that would have officially incorporated Devens as an independent municipality. Concern over the specter of dense residential development at Devens – upwards of 1,300 units were being discussed – helped drive that vote, though recently, the towns’ joint boards of selectmen have signaled support for up to 400 units.