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COMMUNITY BANK CONFERENCE
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OCTOBER 29, 2015
Est ab li s h e d 1 8 7 2
the
www.bankerandtradesman.com
WEEK OF MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015
financial
services
and
real
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weekly
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massachusetts
A Publication of The Warren Group
CREInsider The
SOLAR ENERGY
STATE TO LAUNCH $30 MILLION SOLAR LOAN PROGRAM
A SUPPLEMENT TO BANKER & TRADESMAN MARKET VALUE
Faneuil Hall Seeks To Reclaim Relevance
PROGRAM SEEKS TO ATTRACT MORE LENDERS AND MAKE SOLAR MORE AFFORDABLE BY JIM MORRISON BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
T
he Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and Mass. Clean Energy Center are about to launch a $30 million program to encourage local lenders to start lending money to qualified homeowners for residential solar panel installations. The DOER hopes to start accepting applications for the new program, which reduces costs for homeowners and risk for the lenders, within the next four to six weeks. Michael Judge, acting director for the DOER, said the money would be used to pay lenders a portion of the interest up front, to buy down the rate for the homeowner to 3 percent or less. The money could also be used to give qualified low- to moderate-income homeowners or people with poor credit a reduction in their principal. “The goal is to use the $30 million to leverage four to five times as much money in loans,” Judge said. “We’d like to see lots of solar projects built and lenders educated so they’ll be as comfortable doing these loans in the future as they are making car loans today.” Judge said most lenders don’t make loans on solar equipment because they’re unfamiliar with it. A typical solar panel installation costs around $25,000. Consumers who can’t pay for the equipment themselves often lease the equipment from the installer or a third party, and that winds up being expensive and cutting into the savings the panels provide in the first place. “There are substantial benefits to owning solar equipment versus leasing it,” Judge said. “The money stays in the local economy by borrowing from a local lender and homeowners keep more of the savings.” A 2013 study by the DOER showed that Continued on Page 1
“The goal is to use the $30 million to leverage four to five times as much money in loans.”
Changing Of The Guard At Hub Landmark BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
S
CONTENTS
In Person ������������������������������������������������������������������ 7
Commercial & Industrial ���������������������������������������� 10
Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
Residential �������������������������������������������������������������� 8
Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 17
teps from the central rotunda of the Quincy Market building at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, where fading goldleaf signs bear the names of Colonial-era butchers and produce vendors, the new Uniqlo store appears like something out of another dimension. LED track lighting illuminates rows of brightly-colored sweaters, tech gloves and puffer coats. Suspended on cables inside a glass enclosure, a trio of mannequins rises and descends inside a stairwell of the 1742 granite building. Japanese retailer Uniqlo is the first major addition to the marketplace under New York-based management company Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.’s ongoing $80 million makeover for the 39-year-old marketplace. In July, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved a master plan laying out the company’s vision for the first major renovation since the marketplace opened in 1976. More proposed changes are in the pipeline for the 6-acre property. Ashkenazy wants to build a pavilion for a Sephora cosmetics store to replace the long-vacant flower shop building, open a two-story nightclub in the rotunda and convert upstairs offices in the South Market building to an 180-room hotel. “We want to become less of a seasonal marketplace and more of a year-round marketplace,” General Manager Kristen Keefe said. Executives say they want to bring back local shoppers to the property, one of the nation’s first festival-style marketplaces. But some longtime merchants say the strategy is just more of the same in a decades-long trend of favoring chain stores at the expense of unique independent retailers. Two more new pavilions are proposed for another anchor tenant and a café. Cobblestones would be replaced with granite pavers to improve pedestrian flow along pathways, and new lighting would highlight building exteriors. Outdoor pool and ping-pong tables arrived this summer and more public programming such as Crossfit classes is
By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6
Banking & Lending �������������������������������������������������� 9
Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ C1
Continued on Page B7
10X
Michael Judge Acting Director, DOER
$30M AVAILABLE FROM
THE STATE FOR LENDERS
$120M-$150M EXPECTED TO BE LOANED
OWN VS. LEASE THE BENEFIT TO THE OWNER
50%
HIGHER STATEWIDE ECONOMIC IMPACT