by Frank Schroth — updated 11.20.13 @ 11:22am

The Board of Selectmen voted this evening to reject the bid by Carrick Realty for the town-owned portion of the Hendries property. The vote was unanimous. It came after Chairman Denis Keohane read a prepared statement. The statement was a concise review of the RFP process and a response. It noted that an RFP had been put out with a minimum bid amount of $240,000 (the appraised value). The one response from Carrick Realty was for $1,000. After extending the award date and further negotiations on a P&S with Carrick Realty, the board decided to reject the bid as the parties were unable to come to agreement on a P&S that was in the  best interests of the town.

The prepared statement that Mr. Keohane read concluded with:

You can find the complete text of the statement here.

In the discussion that followed Chairman Keohane said the negotiations had been frustrating and that Carrick had been “disrespectful” in failing to attend a Sunday morning meeting. Keohane noted the meeting took place on a Sunday in the summer and everyone who was present could have been doing something else such as spending time with family. Member Hurley said he “did not want to paint the Connellys (the principals of Carrick Realty) as bad guys.  .  . there was give and take on both sides.” He said that the two sides came close but in the end could not come to agreement. He reiterated that the decision the selectmen had to make was in the best interests of the town.

None of the selectmen commented on what the obstacle to an agreement was, nor did they speak to what might be built on the property. There is speculation that the deal being discussed consisted of more than the $1,000 offer, given Mr. Hurley’s comment that the parties were “close.” However, details of the negotiations–what was offered or counter offered–was not discussed. It was stated that they “reached an impasse on how to transfer the property.” There is a portion of the building of which the ownership is unclear.

The Connellys had been developing an application for a 40B residential development which was the precipitating factor in the current set of negotiations.

Mr. Hurley did say that Carrick Realty intended to take out a demolition permit and that the next step would be for the town to address demolishing its portion of the building also. The goal is to have the entire structure taken down at one time. Town Meeting had allocated ~$198K to a reserve fund for demolition, but as that funding was not used by the end of the fiscal year and it therefore went back to the general fund. Funding the demolition will need to re-authorized by Town Meeting. When asked by a reporter about the release of executive minutes regarding the negotiation now that they are over, those present were told that those minutes would not be released, as the selectmen do not want to reveal their strategy should there be a future RFP.