Study to look at potential uses for Hanscom land

Boston Globe -- NorthWest section
Thursday, December 2, 2004

Study to look at potential uses for Hanscom land
But officials lobby to keep base open

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent

An unthinkable question concerning Bedford's Hanscom Air Force Base is now
being explored: If a decision is made late next year to close the 840-acre
base, what would become of the sprawling property?

An easy answer, according to some commercial real estate specialists, is
that the base could be converted, over a number of years, to a complex
featuring research-and-development companies, retail stores, and additional
lower-cost housing. "This is prime real estate that has all kinds of
potential," said Dennis Clarke, president of Woburn-based Cummings
Properties. Hanscom has "tremendous land value," particularly because of its
location near Routes 3 and 128, said David Begelfer, chief executive of the
Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office
Properties. "Clearly, there could be a commercial-residential mix," he
added.

But, Begelfer emphasized, the loss of jobs at a base that "is a major job
producer" is the most significant issue currently.

Until now, there have been no studies of how the air base, which narrowly
escaped being shuttered in 1995, could be redeveloped for commercial and
residential uses.

But in the next week, it's expected that proposals will be sought from
consultants to conduct a preliminary study of how the communities near the
base would be affected if it is closed. A state-sponsored study has already
found that Hanscom awarded contracts worth $957 million to Bay State
companies and institutions in fiscal 2003. The base currently has 4,200
military personnel and civilian workers.

"We want to get a handle on the effects a base closing would have on things
like employment and municipal services, and then start to put together
concepts for future reuses," said Glenn Garber, a consultant to the Hanscom
Area Towns Committee, made up of selectmen from Bedford, Concord, Lexington,
and Lincoln, the communities adjoining the air base.

A Community Advance Planning Grant of $156,000 from the Defense Department
was awarded to the committee on Nov. 23. Each of the four towns will
contribute about $4,300 to the study, said Garber, a former Lexington
planning director and an Ayer resident.

The intent is to hire a prime consultant and subcontractors by mid-January
and have a report prepared by early May, Garber said. Before that, there
will be five public meetings on drafts of the consultants' findings, he
said. "We're on a fast track," said Garber.

In May, a nine-member federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission will
begin considering base closings suggested by the secretary of defense. Four
months later, the commission will submit its base-closure recommendations to
the president.

Reportedly, 25 percent of the nation's military installations could be
eliminated.

While Garber and Tim Higgins, Lincoln's town administrator, are putting the
finishing touches on the request for study proposals, officials of a
statewide consortium formed to muster support for the Hanscom base and the
Army's Soldier Systems Center in Natick say they're only thinking about
preserving the two installations.

"Our efforts are focused 100 percent on keeping those two facilities open,"
said Alan Macdonald, senior vice president, legislative and military
affairs, for MassDevelopment, which collaborated with the Massachusetts High
Technology Council in establishing the consortium -- the Massachusetts
Defense Technology Initiative -- earlier this year. Governor Mitt Romney and
Senator Edward M. Kennedy are cochairmen of the technology initiative.

MassDevelopment, a quasi state economic development agency, is directing the
redevelopment of the former Fort Devens, an old Army base that straddles the
towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley.

In meeting with Romney and Kennedy two months ago, Pentagon officials
"recognized" that the state has "a thoughtful, strategic plan" for keeping
Hanscom AFB open, Macdonald said.

In urging the Pentagon to expand the Hanscom base, an effort that could
result in other military missions being based in Bedford, the state is
offering to fund $241 million of the $410 million worth of infrastructure
improvements that would be needed.

Meantime, the Hanscom Area Towns Committee's study will benefit from
information compiled by the University of Massachusetts for the defense
technology initiative in September, noted Sara Mattes, chairwoman of the
committee and a Lincoln selectwoman.

"We'll be able to get a jump-start on our project because of this data," she
said. The information details the stimulus that the Hanscom base and the
Natick facility provides to the state's economy every year, estimated at
more than $3.2 billion.

==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========