A plan to re-develop the final 14 acres of the old Boston State Hospital property along Morton Street became a flashpoint of controversy this month as some leaders in Mattapan and Dorchester say that a process to pick a new developer for the site was not transparent, a position disputed by a committee set up to oversee the undertaking.

The site in question sits near the corner of Harvard and Walk Hill streets, between the existing MassBiologics campus and Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center.

The overall property is controlled by the state’s Division of Capital Assets Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), which works with an appointed Community Advisory Committee (CAC) to make decisions about its re-use. Over the last 30 years, the CAC has reviewed bids and made recommendations that have led to successful projects like the Brooke Charter School, the Hearth Building, the MassBiologics campus, and the Olmsted Green homes.

In May 2019, the state asked for proposals to develop 10 acres of development on the site, which at one point was designated to be the home of a new Mattapan High School, an idea abandoned in 2012. In early 2020, a thorough evaluation process by CAC and the wider community whittled six proposals down to four finalists: Cruz Development, Lena New Boston, Thomas Welch & Associates, and Primary Corp. headed up by Kirk Sykes – who had developed and designed the abutting Boston Nature Center.

Sykes and his team were awarded the rights to proceed in June of that year, but the following May, without much notice to the public, the group pulled out of the project when his development partner, Toll Brothers, decided to move on. Sykes is currently involved in developing Dorchester Bay City on Columbia Point with Accordia Partners.

Sykes told the Reporter that despite his long-term affiliation with development at the State Hospital property, his team realized their vision couldn’t be achieved.

“Having begun developing the site more than 20 years ago with Lena Park CDC, I and the entire team were excited by the potential for both economic development and improved public realm that were central to our proposal for CAMPUS at the Boston State Hospital,” said Sykes. “However, as we did our due diligence into both site and market conditions, it was clear that we would not be able to move forward in a way that fully realized the vision we proposed.  Therefore, we are no longer moving forward as the designee.  We would rather not proceed with a project than not make good on our promises to the community.”

Sykes’s decision of ten months ago was news to many stakeholders in the neighborhood this week, including elected officials who had been involved in the original process. Others say they were unaware that a decision has already been made to designate Lena New Boston/2Life as the new developer.

According to a timeline from the governor’s office, the state asked the four finalists to submit a second “best and final” proposal in July 2021 and received three responses (Sykes did not re-submit) in September. In November, the CAC recommended Lena. In December, DCAMM made it official in affirming the recommendation.

The Lena project includes low-income senior housing for part of the site 2Life is working on, while another, mixed-use development, will occupy the rest of the land. Details of the project are not yet public, according to the governor’s office, which said that “additional information on the project proposal will be available after the execution of a Land Disposition Agreement.”

Among those concerned about the decision to pick a new developer is Fatima Ali-Salaam, who chairs the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council (GMNC). She said that members of council are frustrated, calling the second decision a “breakdown” in the community process after neighbors had spent many hours evaluating the proposals in 2020.

She said that she and “a lot of others as well” found the latest development “surprising.” Noting that the pandemic had forced the community into working via Zoom meetings, she said having the community involved in the second decision “would have opened up the process even more than the first time.” She added that she found it a “little bit strange” that it was done throughout a time of transition between three city administrations, and “there are gaps we don’t know about.”

Members of the Boston State Hospital CAC include Donna Young, Attorney Donn Dingle, Carmen Kaechler, Royal Bolling, Glenola Mitchell, Joyce Carroll, Shameka Nurse, and Stan Gwinn.

Dingle spoke with the Reporter on Monday about the decision but declined to offer details about how the process played out to the frustration of community members. He directed the newspaper to the meeting minutes for clarity on what had occurred. He also indicated that the CAC didn’t have great involvement in any decision, that DCAMM made all final decisions.

The CAC has its defenders, though, including state Rep. Russell Holmes, who said he has confidence that the group had done its duty.

“The CAC has been doing this for 30 years,” he said, pointing to many of the successful decisions that have been made by the panel for the property over the years. “This group of people made that decision. I trust them and they are some of the people I trust most in the community.”

Saying he stood by how the second process played out, Holmes noted that the community members had already heard from the developers. He said no new presentations were given and the second phase was only a review of costs and a re-submittal.

“The CAC felt they heard from everyone and felt confident to get a best and final offer,” he said. “They didn’t feel they needed to spend the time and energy over this because all the proposals had been heard…All the folks in the second round of the ‘best and final’ are the same folks the community had heard from before. There was no new presentation. It was, go re-assess your costs… and tell us what you can do…I feel like we opened up to a much broader community process than had been done in 30 years.

“I guess that could have happened [re-opening the community process], but after going through the earlier process, myself, DCAMM, the governor, and the CAC felt we could just ask for a ‘best and final’ with new costs,” he said. “I was agreeable to that, too,” he added, describing the result as a “major win for the community.”

He said that aside from the disposition of the 10 acres, the CAC and DCAMM also decided to allot the other four acres to MassBiologics – which abuts the site. It is still uncertain what that company will do with them.

Ali-Salaam says it’s impossible for the broader community to know if it was a win, as she and her fellow council members were excluded from the second half of the process. “They can have completely different development plans than before,” she said. “We don’t know.”

The state is currently working on a Land Disposition Agreement with Lena New Boston, and any future building proposals will go through a city process. Lena New Boston is headed by New Boston Fund, Inc., led by Tim Medlock of Burlington. Formerly, it was also associated with the late philanthropist Jerome Rappaport, who passed away last August.

Seth Daniel is the news editor of the Dorchester Reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @WriteHandMan.