Say "No" to Wakefield’s Brightview Give-Away

Wakefield is considering a proposal to build the largest facility in downtown since the time of Cyrus Wakefield, 150 years ago. This facility would be a Brightview Senior Living complex, owned and managed by The Shelter Group.  Brightview’s original proposal for 90 units would be a large presence in our downtown. Our town officials, however, have offered to supersize this proposal by offering another 50 units.   

The scope of this supersized offer became clear at the February 6th  Special Town Meeting.  In addition to the 50 units, town officials are offering public property, monetary payments, garage maintenance, and even a capital fund. The town of Wakefield would give Brightview all this in return for an agreement for them to build a parking garage that we could use, assuming any spaces are available. Brightview’s original proposal is for a large facility, so why are we offering to not only supersize it, but to give added incentives to this very wealthy, growing company? We doubt that any other towns have offered Brightview such a sweet deal to build in their town.

This seems more like a public giveaway than a “public-private partnership” and is a bad deal for Wakefield. Under a 20-year lease agreement, Wakefield will pay Brightview $2.1 million, $300,000 to maintain its parking garage, and $200,000 for capital funding. That totals $2.6 million dollars! At the Special Town Meeting, town officials told us that the existing parking lot is “worthless.”  It is far from worthless. The land, given to the town for public use by John and Mary McShane in 1955, is assessed at $431,800. When this land value is added to the rest of the give-away package, Wakefield would be handing $3 million in public assets to a multi-billion dollar corporation (The Shelter Group), which has over 50 senior living facilities in eight states.

Proponents of a supersized 140-unit facility seem to be pinning their hopes of a revitalized and parking-friendly Wakefield on a corporation whose roots are far from Wakefield and whose interests are purely business. We think this give-away of public assets is a risky proposition and a step toward losing our autonomy. The proposed  multi-story building is also out-of-scale with the historic neighborhood in which it would be built, including the Unitarian Universalist Church, the 1784 John Hart house, and the Lincoln School. That neighborhood will be forever changed, another loss for our distinguished past.

Thanks to more than 300 residents who signed a petition, Wakefield voters will get another chance to say “NO” to the give-away of our public assets and the construction of a far-too-big housing complex. We have many parking lots in town as well as a little-used parking garage behind Harrington’s on Water Street. Let’s get creative and offer incentives to use what already exists. Let Brightview go back to its original 90-unit plan and we’ll work with it to make that facility an asset to our community. Vote “NO” on April 1st to this outrageous give-away!

Douglas Heath & Alison Simcox