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The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in favor of a developer that challenged an eminent domain taking of its property for a new Somerville public safety complex, awarding $30 million for the acquisition.
The Somerville Redevelopment Authority in 2019 seized the 4-acre property at 90 Washington St. from Cobble Hill Center LLC and demolished a shopping center to prepare for construction of a new police and fire headquarters.
At a Middlesex County Superior Court trial in 2023, the SRA and developers disagreed over the value of the property in the Inner Belt neighborhood, which was starting to attract interest from lab developers.
The appeals court this week upheld a judgment in favor of Cobble Hill Center LLC, an affiliate of Dorchester-based Corcoran Mullins Jennison.
Cobble Hill Center’s attorney, George A. McLaughlin III of Boston, argued a comparable sale was the nearby 28 Fitchburg St. property. Lab developer North River Co. bought the property in 2019 for $32 million, or over $176 per square foot.
The SRA, however, argued that the appropriate comparable sale was 20 Inner Belt Road, a 205-unit apartment building that sold in 2017 for $78,412 per unit.
During the trial, Newmark Executive Managing Director James Tribble testified that a lab building would be the highest and best use of the Cobble Hill Center property.
The SRA’s expert, appraiser Mark Reenstierna of Arlington-based T.H. Reenstierna, testified that the highest and best use was a 340-unit apartment complex.
A Middlesex Superior Court awarded the state’s largest jury-awarded verdict in 2023 following a two-week trial. The SRA appealed the decision.
Developers also prevailed in their argument that the taking was improper because the city of Somerville had not approved an urban renewal plan for the neighborhood in which the property is located. Somerville officials argued the taking was permitted as a “demonstration project” under urban renewal laws designed to eliminate blight.
But the appeals court ruled that the project did not meet the definition of a demonstration project, which “clearly contemplates the development and testing of new or different projects.”
George A. McLaughlin, III, Joel E. Faller and Matthew E. Burke of The McLaughlin Brothers P.C. represented the developers in the appeal.
“The Appeals Court wrote a well-reasoned decision and reached the correct result,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the city of Somerville said the ruling was being reviewed by the city’s legal counsel before a comment is issued.
