According to the developer, he will have to change the project to include more commercial/retail. Because the residential would be added by building higher buildings, without residential he will need more ground floor space. This means taking up space that would have been reserved for playground, soccer field, community/green space, etc. to make room for more retail/commercial that will make this project successful.
In addition, the 220k sq. ft. dedicated to residential would be dropped down by more than half and up to 3/4 of the original plan. The original 220k would have been taxed at a different property tax rate which is the residential rate of $15.18 per thousand. The new commercial space would be taxed at a rate of $26.46 per thousand. The exact amount depends upon the assessed values of the commercial vs residential property. Most likely the revenue to the town would go down but since the current estimates have no basis except for a guesstimate, the impact would also be a guesstimate.
As to replacing the residential with more office space, the developer indicates he doesn’t want to do that because he feels it will be hard to fill and cites Brickstone Square as an example along with other offices located on Frontage road that are vacant.
The developer has indicated a preference to move forward with something at this location as he feels it is a prime location in Andover. However, he is a businessman and if he is able to sell the property for a good profit and move on to another project, that is not out of the realm of possibility. That means a different developer could come in and do something else with the property which could be good, bad, or in-between.
Points to Consider:
The developer already has 200,000 sq. ft. of office space in this development. Why is he reluctant to add more when he can get higher rents from offices with longer leases?
200,000 sq. ft. at $30 sq. ft. = $6,000,000 annually (even at $20 sq. ft. it is $4,000,000 annually).
225 apartments at $2,000 per month for 12 months = $2,700,000 annually
Questions:
The developer has indicated that the property tax revenue estimates came from the town. Given that the estimate is $2.6 million dollars of property taxes, the assessed value will have to be well over $100 million dollars given that a large portion of this will be taxed at the residential rate.