The long-time real estate broker for Blackburn Industrial Park is warning that the introduction of hotels in Gloucester's industrial parks could weaken business activity in the rest of the city, especially downtown.
John Chiungos, of Real Estate Services of West Newbury, says a rezoning proposal to clear the way for a Hampton Inn Suites hotel in the Blackburn park would "cannibalize" business in other parts of the city. His comments were made in a letter to the city's Economic Development & Industrial Corp. Board, released yesterday by EDIC and the mayor's office.
"To rezone the (business park districts) to allow hotels or other residential and commercial uses will serve to cannibalize the downtown commercial districts to the detriment of the community," Chiungos' letter to the EDIC says. "I would also create the possibility of incompatible uses in close proximity which defeats the purpose of a separate industrial zone."
Largely on Chiungos' advice, the EDIC Board came out against the proposal in an advisory opinion requested by Mayor Carolyn Kirk released yesterday.
The zoning proposal is now on its way to the Planning Board and City Council Planning and Development Committee for recommendations in advance of a full Council vote.
At the core of Chiungos' recommendation against bringing hotels to the Blackburn Industrial Park is a desire to preserve the city's remaining industrial land for potential industrial uses, instead of filling it with businesses that would be viable in other parts of the city.
"Industrial parks like Blackburn do not have the size or density to support a hotel. The community of Gloucester may," Chiungos said. "The question becomes, does a hotel best serve the community as part of the downtown commercial mix or segregated from the community in the industrial park."
In his letter, Chiungos says industrial businesses benefit from having hotels nearby, but recommends locating them within a 3-mile radius outside the park itself.
Because the North Shore has already been extensively developed and industrial-zoned land typically sells for less than land allowing commercial or residential space, it is often a target of rezoning. But once it is gone, a community's ability to attract a large industrial project, should one present itself, are diminished, Chiungos said.
"Industrial land is extremely scarce north of Boston," Chiungos' letter says. "Requests for the rezoning of industrial land are common. When industrial land is lost to these other uses, the opportunity to provide a dedicated area in the community for higher paying industrial jobs is also lost. The balance between residential, commercial and industrial uses in a community is disrupted."
All land in Gloucester's two industrial parks is sold, although some parcels have not been developed and others host vacant or under-utilized buildings. Industrial-zoned land makes up 5 percent of Gloucester's area.
The recommendations from the EDIC and Chiungos come in the middle of a battle between the Maryland developers proposing the zoning change and a Hampton Inn and Boston-based Sam Park, who has already begun foundation work on a hotel across Route 128 Extension at Gloucester Crossing.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk has been in favor of the Gloucester Crossing hotel and against an industrial park hotel since the plans surfaced, saying it would damage chances of building a hotel downtown.
"Our industrial parks, especially the Blackburn Industrial Park, have a very successful track record of bringing good jobs to the city of Gloucester as evidenced by Varian and Gloucester Engineering," Kirk said yesterday. "The EDIC, along with its long-time real estate advisor John Chiungos, has reaffirmed the need to guard the scarce industrial land resources of Gloucester."
In responding to the unfavorable reviews to its plan from EDIC, Caulk Management representatives offered the argument likely to face the planners and councilors who will decide the issue: the Blackburn Hampton Inn is the only viable option.
Earlier this week, they questioned whether Park in fact has the franchise and management deals he has announced to bring a hotel to Gloucester Crossing.
The industrial park rezoning's biggest supporter, Council President Bruce Tobey, has said his reason for backing the plan was to insure that at least one hotel is built in Gloucester.
If the zoning change goes through, Caulk has agreed to buy the building now occupied by Cape Ann Medical Center and raze it to make way for the Hampton Inn.
The owner of the medical center building, Mick Lafata, told EDIC on Wednesday that he had been struggling to find interest in his building when the Caulk arrived with its proposal.
The medical center, which rents its space, has announced plans to move to the building within Blackburn vacated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year when it built its new home.
Jay Isaac, president of the Cape Ann Medical Center, said this week that the medical center was planning to move by the end of the year, regardless of what happens with the hotel.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com
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