The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 125

A29 She Gaston (SJobe Cape Cod A55 New Hampshire A57 Apartments A63 1. T- 5E i. urn Ifess am, -3 SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 1986 LiJL CW ll JB gg i rent ri i mi An architect's drawing shows the proposed commercial building for Franklin Industrial Park, designed by Project Planners Inc. of Boston. Condominiums designed by Huygens and DiMella of Boston, proposed for Forge Park mixed-use project in Franklin, are shown in an architect's drawing.

.1 v. m. mi n. 5 Developers of Franklin Industrial Park are Jonathan Kay (center) and Millard Kay (right). Christopher Tost (left) is leasing agent for Leggat McCall Werner.

GLOBE STAFF PHOTO BY BILL GREENE Two developers discover Franklin National Development Associates, an-affiliate of National Development of Pittsburgh, has been in Boston for two years and has developed several suburban commercial projects. Its newest project, in Franklin, will be its largest, according to Theodore TyeV vice president of the Boston office. Tye and Thomas Alperin, executive vice president, run the Boston office. "We bought the land in September from Wang Laboratories, and since then, the MBTA has agreed to build a 1.000-car garage and a commuter rail station, said Tye. His company donated the land: for the" MBTA work, he said.

Tye said the governor and Legislature have already committed about $8 million for the MBTA commuter rail station and garage, which will serve the Blackstone Valley and the southern Route 495 area. The commuter line terminates in South Station. The state Department of Public Works also has committed funds for relocation and straightening of Route 140, which runs along the proposed park, to be called Forge Park. National Development Associates also donated eight acres of its site for a local YMCA. Twenty acres will be set aside for a hotel complex, and the developers are now talking to several national chains, said Tye.

"All told, we plan to develop about 3 million square feet of building space over; the next 10 years," he said. "At this point, we will not concen-. trate on building an office park, but will focus on light industrial, research-and-development, assembly and distribution facilities," said Tye. i Tye said he thinks that as the park; matures, his firm will be considering corJ porate office space and back office Back office space is for administrative; and operational uses by companies who; keep their more expensive corporate ex-f ecutive spaces located in the cities. Tye said he recognized that another; commercial park is in the works only about five miles away, "but the competK tion will be healthy and will create visibility for both parks as well as put Franklin on the map." Meredith Grew which is the broker for Forge Park, also is Boston-C based.

Tye said that Wang has a three-2 year option to purchase back about 15 acres for its own use. Selling the land back for a Wang high-tech park would be a plus for Forge Park, he says, having a neighbor as prestigious as" Wang would help sell the rest of the deJ-velopment. When completed, building" and development investment in Forge Park will total about $250 million. FRANKLIN, Page A70 -2 Developers of Forge Park in Franklin are Thomas Alperin (left) and Theodore Tye, executive vice president and vice president respectively, of National Development Associates of Boston. GLOBE STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID L.

RYAN dian strip. They plan to start construction soon on the first two single-story buildings, designed by Project Planners Inc. of Boston, which will house 60,000 and 80,000 square feet of space, respectively. All power and telephone lines will be underground, and landscaped open space will surround the buildings planned for the site, said Kay. The developers plan to build a water tower.

Kay said the park will require about 300,000 gallons, "but we added the extra capacity to improve the water pressure for the entire surrounding community." The town will provide all utilities, including sewer and water, he said. "Trees won't be cut down unless absolutely necessary," said Kay, "and three retention ponds will help to beautify the park." Sargent Goodchild of Leggat McCall Werner, brokers for the project, concedes that the Route 495 area has been suffering from a glut of commercial space, but he says conditions are much better now than they were six months ago. "And we find a number of tenants now on Route 128 are looking for less expensive space, and some companies from Boston also have, been looking in this area," he added. Goodchild said one of the advantages; of the Franklin site is that the town lSj about equidistant from Boston, Worces-; ter and Rhode Island, and that all three; are excellent labor sources for growing industries. Also, housing values are much lower than in Boston's suburbs.

The developers estimate that, when completed, the investment will total about $200 million. They also estimate it will take 10 to 12 years to complete. By Anthony J. Yudis Globe Staff FRANKLIN This rural" community, about 30 miles southwest of Boston near Route 495, has caught the attention of commercial-park developers. In the last five years, real estate investors looking for Route 495 sites for development have focused on such towns as Westborough and Marlborough, communities west of Boston that have experienced a boom in the development of office and Industrial parks.

Two Boston-based development companies have concluded, independently, that other areas along Route 495 with very little building growth in the past, may now be ripe for development expansion. Both have chosen Franklin as the town they think will attract new businesses in the future. Franklin Industrial Park Trust of Boston has purchased a 300-acre site at Exit 16 of 1-495 and has developed a master plan for an office and research-and-development park for the site. The park will eventually house more than 2.5 million square feet of building space. The trust is a partnership of George, and Melvin Hurwitz, principals of Broadway Electrical Co.

based in Dorchester, and Millard and Jonathan Kay, principals of Kay Companies of Boston, a real estate development and construction management firm. National Development Associates Inc. of Boston has purchased 382 acres next to Route 495 at the intersection of Route 140 for a mixed-use development. The project would include not only light industrial and research-and-development and office buildings, but also a 163-unit condominium community and a 175-room hotel. "We did a project in Marlborough," said George Hurwitz of Franklin Industrial Park Trust, "and when we finished it, we began looking for another site." He said that Leggat McCall Werner of Boston, which ''had done our brokerage work in Marlborough, brought us here, and we fell in love with the site as well as with the town." "As Westborough and Marlborough get filled up, you will see several other developers come1 down this way also," noted Jonathan Kay, Hurwitz's partner.

"We expect to develop one-third of the site for office uses, one-third for manufacturing and research-and-development and one-third for warehousing," Kay said. The developers have completed construction of a mile-long, tree-lined boulevard through the proposed commercial park with a 14-foot-wide landscaped me- Are there low-interest mortgage programs? 9. 1 am interested in obtaining government-backed, low-interest real estate loans in order to increase my real estate portfolio. Can you supply me with the names of the agencies I should contact? R. Revere A.

There are very few low-interest mortgage programs of any kind available today, and those that do exist are designed for owner-occupants, not for investors. While improving your personal financial position by expanding your real estate portfolio is a reasonable objective, it is not one that either the federal or state government subsidizes with belowmar-ket-rate loans, as a matter of public policy. Q. The bank holding the mortgage on my last house paid interest at the rate of 5 percent on the money held in my tax escrow account The bank that financed the house I just bought is paying only half-of-one percent on that money. Is that legal? V.

Plymouth A. Yes. Massachusetts law requires lenders to pay interest on tax escrow payments collected from residential borrowers, but it doesn't specify how much interest they have to pay. Some states, like Connecticut, have established ai minimum rate for tax escrow accounts, but legislation along those lines has never gotten very far in the Massachusetts Legislature. Q.

I am purchasing a condominium in a newly converted three-unit building, but I've encountered something of a Catch-22 in my search for financing. The lenders I've approached say they won't approve a loan unless the development is pre-approved by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (which, I'm told, is a prohibitively expensive process for a development as small as this one). In the absence of pre-approval, some lenders say they will grant the loan only if the other two units have already been sold and are lowner-occupied. Since I'm 'buying the first unit, I can't meet that condition either. Is there any way around this obstacle, or must I look elsewhere for my condo? R.

Framingham A. One possibility is to see if the closings oh all three units can be scheduled to occur simultaneously: that way, all would meet the presale requirement. Alternatively, you can try to find a lender originating loans for its own portfolio and unconcerned about whether these condo loans can be sold subsequently in the secondary market. Q. I am purchasing some land from a woman who inherited the property from her father.

The title search revealed an estate tax lien. Can you tell me what that means? Can I obtain financing with that lien in place? And who is responsible for removing it? R. 0., Needham A. In Massachusetts, when an individual dies, an estate tax lien is attached automatically to all property heshe owned. To remove the lien, the heirs must obtain an M-792 form (formerly known as an L-8), which the state will issue upon a showing that no taxes are owed on the estate or that all outstanding taxes have been paid.

The fact that the lien showed up on your title search indicates that the current owner never went through that process and must do so now before the property can be-sold. It is the seller's responsibility to deliver good, clear and marketable title, and it is unlikely that you will be able to obtain financing as long as the lien remains. It would be possible, however, to record the M-792 form simultaneously with the closing documents. Nena Grosklnd is executive editor of Banker Tradesman, a Massachusetts real estate and banking trade Journal. Send Inquiries to Realty Boston Sunday Globe, Boston, Mass.

02107. Architectural watchdogs warm to piers project lots'- When the Boston Society of Architects has monitored city building programs through its various volunteer subcommittees, it has not been reticent to criticize. For example, last year, Oscar Padjen, who had been the be an outstanding project, and we want to go on record to support it." He said he was impressed with the caliber of developers and architects involved. The developers are the Hyatt Hotel chain. Carpenter Co.

of Boston, and Pier 4 Restaurant owner Anthony Ath-anas, who owns all the pier property involved in the planning. Carpenter Co. developed the mixed-use Charles Square project near Harvard Square, a project that received substantial citizen scrutiny for several years before it received endorsement. Architects are Cesar Pelli of New Haven for the Fan Piers project, and the Boston firm of Kallmann, McKinnell Wood for the Pier 4 project. What the BSA representatives actually were supporting before the BRA hearing, was not a final plan, but the BRA's approval of a planned development area zoning designation, which will legalize a mixed-use development in an area now zoned strictly industrial.

They also were supporting a master plan a development concept does not now include final height, design or density plans. According to comments filed with the BRA and also with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs -Sheehy's committee said his group "is pleased to see that many of our design concerns (of an earlier plan) have been addressed in a lesser-scale alternative." During the design process last year, Athanas, developer of Pier 4, changed architects and hired Kallmann, McKinnell Wood of Boston for his: Pier 4 project. The architectural firm immediately drew up a new site plan substantially different from what Athanas was showing before he changed architects. "Piers 1, 2, 3, have also evolved in a positive way," noted the design committee. The proposed Hyatt Hotel tower, noted the architects, "can serve as the 'landmark structure' for the entire project" and "will affect the skyline in a positive way." The design comiteee did say that traffic issues are "the single most important concern," and that before all phases of the project can proceed, all state, city and federal transportation agencies "must commit (themsevles) to positive transporation improvements." The commmittee suggested that phases of development construction should be linked to phases of transportation Improvements.

"Only transportation commitments will mitigate the problems of congestion and circulation and assure the project's ultimate strength and success," noted the design committee. The committee also expressed concern that three proposed apartment towers on the Fan Piers property would dominate the open space rather than the open space dominating the buildings. The Boston Society of Architects' committee suggested building setbacks along Northern Avenue to prevent "canyonizatlon" of this street. The committee noted that the keys to the success of the development "in terms of public use, benefit and accessibility are the extensive public amenities and infrastructure that will be provided (a canal, a lagoon, bridges, underground parking, a public park, a public plaza, ferry docks, and retail "Should any combination of these amenities be eliminated or substantially reduced, a reconsideration of the entire master plan will have to be undertaken," warns the architectural committee. "These amenities are integral to the master plan and cannot be reduced or eliminated without altering the entire concept," noted the committee.

ANTHONY J. YUDIS ative impacts on Boston, unless corrective measures are taken, its spokesman, John Sheehy, still had some encouraging things to say about the project during a recent public hearing of the Boston Redevelopment Authority. While some people testified they were concerned about the proposed height of a Hyatt Hotel (about 500 feet). Sheehy said that a tall tower on that part of the waterfont would be "a good thing," since it would serve as a landmark for that part of the city. While some people thought that the preliminary plan depicted too much building density.

Sheehy suggested that perhaps the density would be needed to support a number of expensive public amenities the developers would include in the project. Sheehy's exact title in the architectural monitoring process for the Fort Point Channel development is chairman of the "Fan Pier Focus Team of the Urban Design Committee of the Boston Society of Architects." This is one representation within a larger Fan Pier Civic Advisory Committee chaired by Lawrence Dwyer. Other members of the Boston Society of Architect's team led by Sheehy include architects and planners Willo von Moltke, Mary Otis Stevens and Felicia Clark. Clark is thoroughly familiar with the Fort Point Channel area, having done a major study a few years ago on how the area might be improved as a major public amenity for the city. Sheehy, a member of the firm The Architects Collaborative of Cambridge, said the development proposal "could society's representative on the Civic Advisory Committee for the New Eng-land Life Insurance Co.

project planned for the Back Bay, characterized the two proposed 25-story towers as "all mass and no class." The architectural organization also was cool toward the financial district's International Place project. But the organization did have some good things to say about the mixed-use Rowes Wharf development now under construction along the Atlantic Avenue waterfront. The BSA's latest involvement, through another of its volunteer committees, is in the $1 billlion Fort Point Channel project along Northern Avenue in South Boston. This project (actually two projects, one for the Fan Piers piers 1 through 3 and a second for Pier 4) is considered one of the city's most important building proposals, since it will form an entirely new community in an area along Northern Avenue that has seen little construction in decades. While the professional society of architects expressed a number of concerns about the project's potential neg.