ANNIVERSARY BY THE NUMBERS
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R E AA LL EES ST T F AI N A INA CL I IANLF OI R NM F A O TRI M A TSI I O RE AA T ET E& & FIN NC ON NN C E S 1I 8N7C2 E
County close-up: Clarksburg Spotlight: Berkshire
IN PERSON
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1 8 7 2
Suburban development is no longer a sleepy niche for an attorney specializing in land use permitting and environmental work. When Dallas-based Hillwood Investment Properties sought to develop a 4.2 million-square-foot campus including a new Amazon distribution facility in North Andover, it turned to John Smolak.
WEEK OF MONDAY, JULY 4, 2022
RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS
$8.45 million The purchase price of the most expensive home in this week’s Gossip Report. See page 9. Source: The Warren Group
$289,900 The median single-family sale price in Berkshire County so far this year. See By the Numbers on page 6. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
6,200 square feet The biggest home in this week’s Gossip Report. See page 9. Source: The Warren Group
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New environmental regulations regulate developments that generate large numbers of diesel truck trips near Massachusetts neighborhoods designated as environmental justice population.
N O T I F I C AT I O N S Y S T E M
NEW REGS ADD
HEALTH WORRIES
TO DEVELOPMENT REVIEWS
The number of homes in Clarksburg. See the Town Spotlight in By the Numbers on page 6. Source: Census Bureau
2.15 acres The largest property in this week’s Gossip Report. See page 9. Source: The Warren Group
14 percent The year-over-year increase in the median single-family sale price in Berkshire County this year. See By the Numbers on page 6. Source: The Warren Group’s Statistics Module
2 The number of properties in this week’s Gossip Report that were bought with LLCs. See page 9. Source: The Warren Group
$2.7 million The price of the most expensive recent single-family sale in Berkshire County. See By the Numbers on page 6. Source: The Warren Group
Unless otherwise noted, all data is sourced from The Warren Group’s Mortgage Market Share Module, Loan Originator Module, Statistics Module and/or proprietary database. For more information please visit www.thewarrengroup.com/business/ datasolutions.
State Takes a Closer Look at Air Quality BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
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ew state regulations designed to protect marginalized populations from environmentally-harmful projects are expected to add delays and additional project costs for commercial developers, particularly in the booming e-commerce distribution sector. The first major update to MEPA regulations since 1998 took effect in
January, including new definitions of environmental burdens and benefits, to comply with the state’s 2021 Climate Roadmap Act. For the first time, state environmental regulators are required to consider the effects of environmental justice populations within 5 miles of a proposed project, including air quality. “Like any good and well-intentioned regulatory scheme, it can be blunt as an instrument of trying to accomplish something that is obviously a very worthy objective: to minimize harm to environmental justice communities,” said Douglas McGarrah, co-chair of Foley Hoag’s real estate and development practice. “Because of the way the regula-
tory process works, it can capture things that add time and costs to the project.”
Focus on Smog Generators
The new regulations cast a wider net in reviewing the number of projects that generate substantial diesel emissions, potentially influencing developers’ plans for high-profile sites such as Boston’s Widett Circle. The 19-acre site is located just south of the Massachusetts Turnpike-Interstate 93 interchange, and a 2019 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists spotlighted the nearby Chinatown neighborhood’s status as having the worst air pollution in Massachusetts. Continued on Page 7
COMMERCIAL INTERESTS
P R O V I D E N T I A L S T R AT E G I E S
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Commercial Real Estate PAGE 3
Banking & Lending PAGE 9