Could time run out for Paragon Dunes project? Tensions rise at latest Hull meeting

The developer wanting to reshape the “gateway of Hull” with apartments and commercial space warned they may drop the project if an approval doesn’t happen soon.

The tension was palpable during Wednesday evening’s planning board meeting, as representatives for Middleton-based Procopio Companies said the Paragon Dunes project on Nantasket Avenue is approaching a point of being financially unattainable.

“We will most likely not purchase the property if we do not get approval,” Michael Modoono, the company’s senior development manager, told the board. “It’s too much risk for us.”

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The developer has an agreement to purchase 189 and 193 Nantasket Ave. from Chris and Diana Reale, pending town approval of the project proposal. The Reales, who run Paragon Boardwalk, had tried in 2021 to develop a five-story, 141-unit apartment building on the site, but plans were pulled eight months later.

The deal hinges on Procopio getting site plan approval and a special permit from the planning board, the developer’s attorney Adam Brodsky told the board on Feb. 7. The developer would also have “a laundry list of other permits” and approvals to get, such as from the town’s conservation commission and the state’s environmental and transportation entities.

There would be “significant business implications” if the planning board’s public hearing doesn’t close by early March and a vote occurs soon after, Brodsky told the board. The board has 90 days from when they close the public hearing to vote on the plans. Closing the public hearing means the board will deliberate with no further input from residents.

Procopio submitted their plans to Hull in October and have met with the planning board four times. With each meeting, lasting between one-and-a-half to three hours, planning board members requested various changes to the design, and the development team came back with tweaks in an effort to assuage their concerns. The latest proposal included 132 market-rate apartments and 9,000 square feet of commercial space, the latter an increase from previous iterations.

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But questions and critiques remained through Wednesday’s meeting.

Some residents and members of Hull’s planning board expressed dissatisfaction with how the project has shaped up. The concerns included the wall-like effect the project would have along George Washington Boulevard; the overshadowing of the 1928 carousel from the former Paragon Park; the decrease in commercial space; the lack of cut-throughs to see the bay from the beach side and vice versa; and the building’s overall design features.

The development team said it had done everything possible to fold suggestions made over the past three months into the design.

“We can’t recreate what Hull looked like in 1928. I hate to say it. You can’t build those structures any longer,” Brodsky said. “We’re down to aesthetics and we’ve done our very best to be responsive and address those issues.”

Some planning board members were reluctant to rush through the process, with board member Jeanne Paquin saying that smaller projects have gone through more meetings than Paragon Dunes and they were just doing their due diligence.

“This is too important. This is not what I envisioned there,” Paquin said. “This is not what I thought I would be driving into town and seeing.”

The team remained firm that the project would not be reduced in size or the proposed number of units as it would impact the financial feasibility, Brodsky said.

"If this notion of breaking it down into multiple buildings is what ultimately the board wants to see, I don't know where this project goes," he said. "If what you want to see is ultimately a smaller project on the site, it's not likely going to happen."

A few planning board members expressed appreciation for the developer’s willingness to go the distance to get the design right. But one said he was “discouraged” by some of his colleagues’ lingering dissatisfaction with the design changes.

“Hull has a reputation for being a pain in the (rear) place to build something. We’re continuing that reputation by pushing back at this point,” member Harry Hibbard said.

Not getting the planning board’s approval won’t necessarily preclude Procopio from buying the property and proposing a different development, such as a Chapter 40B project, Modoono said. This type of project would allow developers to bypass certain zoning rules in a town where less than 10% of the housing stock is affordable if their proposed project would have 20% to 25% of the units be affordable. Hull’s housing stock less than 2% affordable, according to a 2022 housing production plan.

“We have spent a significant amount of time and money investing in these plans, these designs, listening to the board, coming to the meeting, making significant changes to our proposal. We are literally out of time and money as it relates to the deal with the seller,” Modoono said. “If we cannot come to a point where we’re ready to vote, we will have to probably either walk away or close on the land and find another alternative that gets a project approved here.”

The discussion continues March 6 at 7 p.m.

Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Paragon Dunes developer in Hull stresses time running out for project