Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 28, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 9 EM PLOY ME NT LAW W E B I N A R S CHOOSE ONE DATE/TIME: W E D N E S DAY October 7, 2020 Early start: 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. OR T H U R S DAY October 15, 2020 Later start: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. COMPLIMENTARY WEBINARS Attorney Joseph T. Bartulis, Jr., Chair of the Labor & Employment group at Fletcher Tilton, will speak about the many legal issues facing employers in 2020 and beyond. Topics will include: • Employee Leave Issues/Entitlements Under the FFCRA, FMLA, and the ADA. • Employee Handbook Revisions as a result of the Pandemic • Workplace safety issues, OSHA compliance, and Worker's Compensation issues in the face of a Pandemic • Wage and Hour Legal issues and Employer Obligations (Layoffs, WARN Act obligations, Furloughs, COBRA and more) • Analysis and Explanation of the Recent federal and state court decisions impacting employers Register at FletcherTilton.com. Questions, call 508.459.8095. Attorneys at law W O R C E S T E R | F R A M I N G H A M | B O S T O N | C A P E C O D H U D S O N | M E D F I E L D | P R O V I D E N C E 5 0 8 . 4 5 9 . 8 0 0 0 | FletcherTilton.com the city has relied on a series of right- of-entry agreements with Madison in order to continue construction on the ballpark. Madison and the city have signed a number of extensions to the right-of-entry contracts, including in December, February, April, June and July. e latest extension lasts until the end of September. e Worcester Redevelopment Au- thority was scheduled to approve the conveyance of the ballpark property to the city in its Sept. 25 meeting, with the land transfer expected to take place within 10 days. Legally binding language committing both sides to stipulations in the agreement is set to be included in that land disposition agreement. Martin Greenberg, a professor at the Marquette University School of Law in Wisconsin and the managing member of a firm specializing in real estate and sports law deals, called the lack of completed agreements in Worcester unusual and concerning. "is should be relatively simple. It's a sale of a property to the city," Green- berg said. "at is not difficult." "What he's doing," Greenberg said of Dowdle and the ballpark site, "is he's attempted to leverage the public-pur- pose property for his development. What's unfortunate about this is this should have all been worked out up front." "is is not usual," he added, about Worcester's situation. COVID's impact on the $125M surrounding development e latest proposal from Madison calls for 945,000 square feet of space, including 125 hotel rooms and 350 apartments, along with retail and office uses. e developer has delayed the opening of each of the project's components for one to two years, while cutting in half the number of planned hotel rooms. e first building, originally slated to open early in 2021, will now open roughly a year and a half late. e project isn't slated for total build-out until the end of 2024. e value of the project has decreased, too, although Dowdle and the city declined to update the anticipated level of investment from Madison. In January, the city estimated the assessed value of four of Madison's five buildings would be a combined $73.7 million; on Sept. 18, that anticipated assessed value was changed to $49.3 million. e coronavirus pandemic has adversely impacted the industries slated to go into the Madison development, as brick-and-mortar retailers and restaurants are laying off workers, and the demand for office space has become unpredictable as employers keep workers home. e hotel market has soened dramatically. Average revenue per room nationally during the pandemic has fallen 80%, according to the realty market firm Colliers. e hotel market firm STR has predicted the industry won't return to its 2019 levels until 2023. Because of this, Daniel Etna, the co-chair of the sports law group at the New York firm Herrick Feinstein, speculated Madison could be using the deed transaction as leverage to make the mixed-use project more viable. "Perhaps the developer's going to be able to get some sort of benefits" because the city needs a sale transaction to take place, said Etna. "e developer's end game is not to sit there with an undeveloped project." e development has site plan approval for the first residential building, but construction work has yet to begin. "e medium term looks terrible for the deal," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, who has closely followed the project and is among the most prominent voices in the industry. "No way a developer goes ahead with a major hotel, restaurant or retail development, all of which are part of the [tax break deal]," Matheson said, citing economic conditions. Polar Park is planned to open next April with a capacity of 9,508. W RENDERING | COURTESY OF THE PAWTUCKET RED SOX

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