An attorney has criticized the property acquisition offers from developer Alex Bok, who is attempting to secure land for a proposed Malden ballpark.
Over the last few months, Bok has revived his pitch for a new ballpark in Malden by working to bring an affiliated Minor League Baseball team to the city. Bok briefed city officials on his effort to land an MiLB team earlier this month, and indicated that he would like to open the facility by 2019.
One of the key steps toward finalizing the development is acquiring three properties that account for 2.7 acres of the proposed ballpark site. Bok has submitted his offers for the sites and George McLaughlin, an attorney who represents two of the businesses that would be involved in the transaction, has criticized the proposal. In response, a representative for Bok’s proposal said he had no interest in discussing the negotiations publicly. More from Wicked Local:
Larry Carpman, a spokesperson for the ballpark project, said in a statement that Bok did not want to hash out negotiations in public. He did say, however, that the offers reflected “a premium on the market value appraisals just completed by one of the leading appraisers in Greater Boston.”
“We look forward to hearing directly and privately from these property owners and their counsel and discussing the specific terms in our offers,” Carpman said.
McLaughlin, for one, does not want to meet — at least not yet.
“I guess what I would say is, get a [Minor League] team, come up with a reasonable amount of money, and find my clients a reasonable place to relocate to, and then we can talk,” he said. “They have none of these things, so [my clients] have no reason to talk.”
Bok will have clear several hurdles in the project for it to come to fruition, including terms to use the 6.4-acre National Grid site that is adjacent to the three shops– Spadafora’s Auto Parts, L&L Services, and Collex Collision–that could be acquired. McLaughlin represents Spadafora’s Auto Parts and L&L Services.
The project is estimated to cost $80 million, with Bok contributing $60 million and the State of Massachusetts covering the remainder.
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