Page 2 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, JunE 13, 2025 City Council votes to approve Sofia TIF agreement following delays B By Neil Zolot y a vote of 8 to 3, the City Council approved a 14year Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement with developers Fulcrum Global Investors, now using the name The Sofia 380 Second Street Limited Liability Company, for a planned 620 unit/21-story mixed-use building on the site of a long unused structure that once housed an auto-find company, a Brazilian church and a lift truck service, at their meeting Monday, June 9. “I’m glad it passed,” Mayor Carlo DeMaria said after the meeting. “This is important and will set the tone for Second Street.” “It’s a positive thing,” Ward 1 Councillor Wayne Matewsky, in whose Ward the site is located, added. The TIF was a subject of discussion at Council meetings on May 19 and 27. Developers made concessions at each, including paying $2 million directly into the City of Everett’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, making provisions for local High School students to participate in job fairs and apprenticeship programs, establishing a Tenants Improvements Package loan program for businesses and, responding to a request from Councillor-at-Large Katy Rogers, to not use the word “luxury” in advertisements and descriptions of the building, which she feels has been overused and is elitist. At those meetings and on June 9, many union members from building trades showed up to voice support for the project, which will have 100% union employees in construction, with preference for Everett residents. A sticking point was the provision to waive the $3.5 million building permit fee, brought up by Ward 5 Councillor Robert Van Campen. Fulcrum Founder and CEO Scott Brown countered that in addition to the $2 million, Fulcrum will pay for a $3.4 million environmental cleanup on the site and pay for peer reviews for the project. “Money is being redirected,” he said, but Director of Community Planning and Development Matt Lattanzi interjected, “It is a waiver.” Van Campen, who is said to be planning to run for mayor in this year’s election, brought it up again on June 9, but no changes were made to the provision. Other concessions were made, the most prominent of which is an annual contribution of $1,224,000 to a Good Neighbor Fund, initially including $300,000 to buy a new ambulance; $250,000 for community organizations to teach English literacy and job preparedness; $180,000 for a police command post/command response vehicle; $140,000 for a sub-fund to assist the elderly in paying real estate taxes; $100,000 each for the School Department and for a Disability Accessible van by the Council on Aging; $60,000 for the police to help purchase digital sign boards; $36,000 for the police for purchasing computers and printers for cruisers, a subject that came up a discussion of the budget with Police Chief Paul Strong on June 2; $30,000 for the police to help purchase public call boxes on bike paths and in high-risk areas; $18,000 for the police to help purchase license plate readers and $10,000 for the police to help fund the 911 disability/elder database. These items are in a separate document from the TIF. Lattanzi and City Solicitor Colleen Mejia explained that a TIF can’t include provisions to distribute funds and including that or even acknowledgement of a separate document to do so could endanger the legality of the TIF, although it includes a provision that “any costs associated with the creation and/or operation of the Good Neighbor Fund shall be paid out of the Fund itself.” A provision was also added that it be esVOTES | SEE PAGE 10 City Offices Closed Thursday, June 19 as Everett Observes Juneteenth Trash and recycling will not be picked up on Thursday and will be delayed for the rest of the week E 50 VERETT, MA – City offices will be closed to the public on Thursday, June 19, as Everett observes the Juneteenth holiday. City offices will re-open on Monday, June 23, with regular hours for residents (8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.). Observed annually on June 19, Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates Everett Supplies Aluminum 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Celebrating 66 Years in Business! •Vinyl Siding •Free Estimates •Carpentry Work •Fully Licensed •Decks •Roof ng • Fully Insured • Replacement Windows www.everettaluminum.com Now’s the time to schedule those home improvement projects you’ve been dreaming about all winter! the end of slavery in the United States. Thursday’s observance will delay trash and recycling pickup by one day. Please place your trash and recycling bins neatly on the sidewalk on the day after your regularly scheduled pickup for this week only. This means that pickups regularly scheduled for Thursday will be on Friday, June 20, and pickups regularly scheduled for Friday will be on Saturday, June 21. Please note that trash and recycling pickup during this week prior to the holiday will not be affected. For more information, please call the Constituent Services Department by dialing 3-1-1 or 671-394-2270. Spring is Here!
3 Publizr Home