Politics & Government

Highest Bidder Takes Woodfall Road Parcel

Local team's offer of $2.2 million for 5.4 acre lot made the decision an easy one for town officials.

In the final analysis by Belmont town officials, the decision to select the offer from a   newly-created local development team over a regional housing construction giant for a small town-owned lot on the sunny side of Belmont Hill at Monday's Belmont Board of Selectmen meeting, Dec. 2, came down to one critical item.

The Benjamins.

With both Belmont Advisors and Northland Residential of Burlington presenting the same selection criteria – a proposal to build four posh homes of similar size each with setbacks and buffers taking nine months to build – the deciding factor for town officials, according to David Kale, Belmont's Town Administrator, was the money each side was placing on the table to purchase the parcel adjacent to the Belmont Country Club and in the Hillcrest neighborhood on the west side of Belmont Hill.

And Northland's bid of $750,000 was simply dwarfed by the $2.2 million offered by the team made up of Common Street resident Jeff Nadherny, Belmont architect Erik Rhodin and contractor and financial backer Dani Chedid of Lexington's Phoenix Construction Group.,

Just how badly the team wanted to purchase the site was evident back in October when Chedid crossed out the team's initial offer of $2 million and upped it by $200,000 after viewing Northland's proposed price. 

After Monday's 3-0 vote by the Board that allows the town to enter into purchase and sale negotiation with Belmont Advisors, Nadherny appeared happy but wasn't making any comments about the decision or the whopper of a premium the team is willing to pay for the site that has wetlands on the parcel restricting the size of any upscaled home on three of the four residential lots.

Nadherny did tell the Selectmen during a brief comment period that he would like to begin construction as early as "winter." 

"We're excited about it," said Nadherny during the comment period.

"We have nothing to say at this time," said Nadherny with a smile after the meeting, noting that he would be more willing to talk after the P&S is finalized. Boston Advisors will be digging test pits during its due diligence and may seek a 60 day extension on finalizing the P&S. 

For the town, the probable sale ends five years of attempting to sale the overgrown, rubble spotted site. An initial proposal in 2008 fell through while an attempt in 2012 by an Atlanta-based company to place a small hospice care facility on the site faced considerable opposition from neighbors. A year ago, the Selectmen placed a restriction on the site that favored residential development on the parcel.


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