It's been a decade since�the district attorney stopped using the 22-story Edward J. Sullivan Courthouse site in East Cambridge. And for the last seven years, a commercial real estate developer has been hoping to transform the state-owned site into mostly office space, surmounting legal and zoning hurdles and attempting to assuage neighbors by adjusting plans, by, for example, agreeing to add some affordable housing units to sweeten the deal.

But a resurgence of opposition to the project has gathered momentum as a key vote that could decide the fate of the project is expected to be made by City Council in June.

Led by a state representative, a local activist group is now campaigning to block the sale of the site and its redevelopment. Instead, they want the site to remain in public hands and to be used for primarily affordable housing, community space and a park.

The 20-story building being proposed by real estate developer Leggat McCall at 40 Thorndike St. would be mostly office space with 24 affordable units and some retail and community space. The building would have 92 parking spaces on-site, but an additional 420 off-site spots would need to be leased from the city-owned First Street Garage lot. The lease of those spots needs to be approved by the� City Council. The developer first presented the First Street Garage idea back in 2013 in the hopes of lowering the height of the proposed building and transferring some of the development across the street.

In April, opponents launched an online petition asking the City Council to vote against the parking lot deal.

But Rob Dickey, the executive vice president for Leggat McCall, said the company was awarded the bid for the development of the courthouse site in 2012 and that since then, the firm has worked to address all community concerns.

�We�ve welcomed input and will continue to listen and respect all points of view in the neighborhood,� Dickey said in a telephone interview.

Connolly leads the charge

Blocking the project is exactly what Rep. Mike Connolly (D-East Cambridge and East Somerville) and his allies have in mind. Along with members of Our Revolution Cambridge, a local chapter of Our Revolution Massachusetts, Connolly hopes the online petition will convince councilors to vote �no.�

�Keep public land in public hands. We oppose the privatization of the Sullivan Courthouse site and some 420 parking spaces in the First Street Garage,� the petition notes. As of May 6, it had garnered 1,066 signatures, surpassing its goal of 1,000.

Connolly said he hopes City Council will reject the parking request and that, according to the state�s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, if the parking deal is rejected, then the purchase and sale agreement will not go through.

�What I would ultimately like to see is a new disposition process for the courthouse and in that process, I would like to see our community really have a voice that we didn't have, you know, seven or eight years ago when the original disposition process started,� Connolly said.

"The land value has undoubtedly skyrocketed since the purchase and sale agreements," Connolly added. "The Green Line Extension was still an uncertainty, when now there are actual shovels in the ground. ... As someone who has a responsibility to represent the public's interest, there are some very serious questions. Are we as the public getting a fair deal in this transaction?"

Our Revolution Cambridge member Sean McFarland agreed.

�We can then proceed in the community-driven process where the residents would have input and we�d be able to much more proactively push for it to be a majority of affordable housing, community space, and maybe even some green space,� McFarland said.

Louise Parker, another volunteer, said she does not think the courthouse property should be used for private profit.

�I fundamentally believe that public land should stay in public hands to be used for public goods,� Parker said. �And by that I mean things that are of value needed and wanted by the public.�

City officials respond

Mayor Marc McGovern said the city has requested a study to look at what the impact would be if the city leased the parking spaces to Leggat McCall. Speaking by telephone on April 24, McGovern said he is holding off on taking an official stance on the matter until the results are available. On Nov. 19, the council voted to have the study completed within 6 months.

McGovern said he is concerned about the �narrative out there,� that if councilors vote against leasing the parking spaces to the Leggat McCall development that means the site could automatically be made into affordable housing units.

�That is an extremely simplistic and not guaranteed correlation,� McGovern said. �Even if the City Council were to vote not to lease these spaces, there are numerous things that would have to fall into place for us to see the Sullivan Courthouse become affordable housing.�

McGovern added that while he is a proponent of affordable housing, he thinks many people who oppose the Leggat McCall development do not even know what the company is actually proposing.

�People are sort of being sold this bill of goods that it's a simple decision about, you know, say no to spaces, get affordable housing,� McGovern said. �If it was that easy, it�d be a no-brainer. I'd be all over it. But it's not that easy.�

Vice Mayor Jan Devereux declined to comment but Councilor Quinton Zondervan said he supports the grassroots effort to reimagine the courthouse building.

�Public land should benefit the people, so we should maximize public benefit as we redevelop this site,� Zondervan said in an email.

East Cambridge neighbors react

One of the most active neighborhood groups also opposes both the current plans for the courthouse conversion and the leasing of parking spaces.

�We�re against it because both sites are owned by the public and the citizens of Cambridge and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,� said Chris Matthews of the East Cambridge Planning Team. �We don�t agree with selling off those valuable public assets.�

But other neighbors are tired of waiting for the vacant building to be used.

Chris Kosinski, owner of�East Side Bar and Grille in East Cambridge, lives across from the courthouse on Spring Street. When it was vacated, Kosinski said he had to stop serving lunch at his restaurant. He supports the development by Leggat McCall because he wants more people to come to the area to help support local businesses.

�I don�t understand the opposing plan,� Kosinski said. �There�s no teeth or meaning. This is kind of a done deal and it fits the criteria. And where I live next to it, I�d love to see a much nicer building, a vibrant building, with more people in that area.�

Lee Pedro is a long-time East Cambridge resident who raised seven children in the area. She lives in Roosevelt Towers, a public housing development. She said she supports the project because she wants to see the community revitalized for future generations.

As of May 6, a vote by City Council on Legatt McCall�s parking request had not been scheduled. But, McGovern said he hopes the vote will occur before summer.

Rep. Connolly's Office is holding a community discussion about the disposition of the courthouse site on May 16, 7-9 p.m., at Kennedy-Longfellow School, 158 Spring St. The meeting will include "a presentation on the emerging community-driven framework for the public reuse of the site as affordable housing, community and arts space, and a public park or courtyard."

"This is a public asset in an environment where 100s and 100s of millions of dollars are being poured into our community and 100s and 100s of millions of dollars being extracted back out as profit. We have to value and appreciate our public assets and treat the disposition of our public assets as something that really merits scrutiny," said Connolly

For more information, visit repmikeconnolly.org/town_hall_meeting_east_cambridge_sullivan_courthouse_site.

Chronicle editor Amy Saltzman contributed to this report.

Haley Lerner is a Boston University journalism student writing as part of a collaboration between the Cambridge Chronicle and BU News Service.

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