Deferred Fees Paid For Luxury High-Rise

The city has received a one-time windfall of $2.7 million in deferred building permit fees from the now-former owner of 360 State St., thereby closing out two parallel developer deals that date back more than a decade.

According to the city’s online land records database, on Oct. 26, Mayor Justin Elicker signed a so-called ​“release and termination” document acknowledging that MEPT Chapel Street LLC had paid the city $2,721,550.

He signed that release form a few weeks before MEPT, a union pension fund-backed company that had owned the 500-unit apartment complex at 360 State St. since it opened in 2010, sold the luxury downtown high-rise to a New York City-based real estate company for $160 million.

The release form and building permit fee payment close the loop on two parallel deals that City Hall struck with 360 State’s developer and then-owner more than a decade ago in a bid to make it more attractive to build on the then-empty corner lot.

The first deal was signed by Becker Development Associates LLC’s Bruce Becker and then-Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. on July 11, 2008. 

That memorandum of agreement (MOA) stated that 360 State St.‘s developer did not have to pay any building permit fees for the project until 12 years after the apartment complex’s completion. 

The deal then defined the ​“Building Permit Fee rate” for 360 State St.‘s development as $25.16 for every $1,000 of construction costs, and laid out a monthly payment plan to kick in 12 years after completion.

A few months later, on Sept. 30, 2008, DeStefano signed a separate agreement with Patrick Mayberry, who was president of the Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT) that then owned 360 State St. 

That second deal established that the total amount of building permit fees to be owed for 360 State St. would be $2,721,550.

On Thursday, city spokesperson Lenny Speiller confirmed for the Independent that the city has indeed received $2.7 million-plus in building permit fees. 

That receipt ​“closes out the building permit deferral from the original development agreement.”