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© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Condo conundrum creates controversy, concerns community
By George P. Hassett
The tenants of 111 Woodstock St.
Eugene Kwasniewski enjoys living at 111 Woodstock St. He likes the nearby stream and the trees that surround his West Somerville neighborhood. He likes the easy access to public transportation. And he likes the neighbors he has lived next to for the past 3 years.
But soon, Kwasniewski will not be able to live at the building because, in November, a developer purchased its 12 units and, soon after, began working to convert the property into condominiums.
“It has been awful,” Betty Radwanski said, a tenant in the building. “Mailboxes have been removed, I couldn’t sleep in my apartment for three nights when they were finishing the floors, I have killed eight mice, doors have been left open and unlocked and the heat was shut off in the winter. We’re living on a construction site, it isn’t a healthy or a safe situation to live in.”
The property will soon be ready to sell as condominiums.
“If I had a quarter of a million bucks,” Kwasniewski said, “I would definitely stay. The problem is, I don’t have it.”
A proposed ordinance
The situation at 111 Woodstock St. is exactly why the ordinance to add regulations to the city’s laws governing condominium conversions, proposed by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, is needed, said Todd S. Kaplan, an attorney with Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services.
“The situation at 111 Woodstock St. really exemplifies why we need this ordinance,” Kaplan said. “The landlord at that property made life miserable for his tenants. It was unclear under the current ordinance if he even needed to give them notice before evicting them. He terminated one tenants’ lease without notification and he forced the rest, some of whom had lived there over 20 years, to live on a construction site.”
Curtatone‚Äôs proposal would increase the notification times — to up to four years — that landlords would be required to provide before converting their multifamily buildings into condos and selling off the units. Somerville’s current rules for conversion require landlords to give tenants one year’s notice of a conversion. The elderly, handicapped, and low income residents have two years.
Under current law, landlords pay $300 in relocation reimbursement to low-income tenants. The new provision would require paying $2,000 or one month’s rent to tenants, and $4,000 or two months rent to the elderly, handicapped, and those with low incomes.
Curtatone said the ordinance will add predictability to condo conversions, while protecting the rights of tenants.
Between July 2004 and June 2005, 578 condominium units were created in the city, a 70 percent increase over the prior fiscal year. Current conversions are expected to meet or exceed last year’s pace. The conversions have been a needed boost to Somerville‚Äôs economy, which relies mainly on residents to fund municipal services because of the lack of a significant commercial tax base.
But critics say conversions force out long time residents, taking away from the city’s unique character.
“Everyone I know has moved,” said Mark McLaughlin a lifelong Somerville resident. “We’re losing our blue-collar, tight-knit community atmosphere. I don’t know my neighbors anymore, all my friends have moved to cities like Everett and Brockton. Somerville has become so much nicer in the last few years, I think they should be able to experience it too.”
At a Legislative Matters meeting May 30, called to discuss Curtatone’s proposed ordinance, landlords packed City Hall to cheer aldermen who questioned the proposal’s legality. Alderman-at-Large William A. White said state law prohibits cities and towns from regulating buildings with fewer than four units.
“We are going down a dangerous path,” said White, prompting loud applause from a standing room only crowd of onlookers inside the Aldermanic Chambers. “I have been a lawyer for 25 years. I have represented tenants and I have represented landowners and I know that what you are proposing tonight will be struck down in court.”
White asked city attorney Ann Thomas to name one other city or town that regulated owners of two and three unit dwellings who want to convert their properties. Thomas, at a loss, paused and said, “There are some. I don’t know. Somerville?” prompting more applause in the chamber.
Kaplan said Somerville has the right to regulate buildings with fewer than four units because of the 1985 home rule petition Curtatone’s ordinance would replace.
The owner of 111 Woodstock St.
The twelve unit building had fallen into physical disrepair. Ceilings were crumbling, the electricity was antiquated and the plumbing needed a fix. Worse, police had singled out 111 Woodstock St. as a haven for drug activity. Detectives vigilantly sat outside in unmarked cars.
Ron Cavallo, a real estate developer, lived across the street and was disturbed by what had become of a beautiful 1924 structure.
“I was sickened by the heroin activity,” Cavallo said. “And it made economic sense.”
So Cavallo bought the property and began to rehabilitate it.
He said he replaced the plumbing, heating, and electricity. He said he evicted tenants who broke the law.
But when he wanted to convert his property, Cavallo said he was made to be the bad guy. “I have turned a crack den into a beautiful building and the city is fighting me,” he said.
Cavallo said he will pull his business out of Somerville if Curtatone’s proposed ordinance becomes law.
“The mayor is missing the point,” he said. “This ordinance is going to have an extremely negative impact on the city’s housing stock. When I bought the building at 111 Woodstock St., it was a distressed property with a lot of problems. It is now a beautiful complex that adds to the neighborhood and the entire city. There has to be an economic incentive for developer’s to rehabilitate properties. The mayor’s proposal reduces the economic incentive.”
For Eugene Kwasniewski, the solution is compromise.
“Neither landlords or tenants are going to get everything they want,” Kwasniewski said. “We’re going to have to work out the best compromise possible and go with it.”
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