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Nursery chairman pleased with land deal (complete article from source)
Source: metrowestdailynews.com, by Cathy Flynn/Daily News staff
February 05, 2007
HOPKINTON - Now that a buyer has been found for his unneeded land, the chairman of Weston Nurseries says the deal will be good for his business, his family and the town of Hopkinton.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester on Thursday afternoon approved a deal between the Mezitt family and Roy MacDowell, who heads a Weston-based landscaping business and Boulder Capital, a real estate development company. Unless the town of Hopkinton decides to match his offer which state law allows because the land is zoned agricultural MacDowell will buy 732 acres of Weston Nurseries land for at least $25 million.
Weston Nurseries Chairman Wayne Mezitt said yesterday that MacDowell is an honest businessman and Hopkinton should trust his vision, rather than buying the land to control what is built on it.
"Throughout this process Roy has been very forthcoming in his opinions, and when we got serious about the sale he insisted that the 61A process (which allows the town to match the bid) remain transparent and in force," said Mezitt. "Under the bankruptcy laws those rights could have been voided to protect creditors and the business. That's an indication of the approach Roy wants to take."
Weston Nurseries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2005, and the land sale will give it money to pay its creditors and to invest further in the business, Mezitt said. Roger Mezitt, Wayne's brother, will use his share for his retirement.
Mezitt said Hopkinton residents should understand that "Roy will do, at his own expense, what it will take a lot of tax dollars for the town to buy and do itself."
The agreement between the Mezitts and MacDowell calls for a mixed-use development with at least 1,100 homes and a retail center. MacDowell has said his plan will include hundreds of acres of open space, a key priority for Hopkinton residents.
Mezitt said his family has known MacDowell for years through their complementary businesses.
"Roy was one of the first people we talked with about buying the land, two and a half or three years ago," said Mezitt. "It was around the time that the deal with the Montrose School fell through. That raised a lot of possibilities for us, although we never intended at the time to sell so much land."
He said that under the land sale agreement, Weston Nurseries will provide all of the nursery stock for MacDowell's future development in Hopkinton. He is uncertain how much the nursery will make from the deal, saying that "it's very far in the future, and everything won't happen at once."
He also said that a partnership with MacDowell "fits with our own future plans, which include doing less production and more marketing." The nursery will lease back 77 acres from MacDowell for growing plants, he added.
Along with the business uncertainty wrought by the bankruptcy, the sale process also exposed a rift between the Mezitt brothers. A brief filed with the bankruptcy court states said that the family's disputes over the business began in 2002, and different attorneys represented the brothers during the negotiations.
An impasse between the brothers over the garden center's lease was one of the reasons that Weston Nurseries declared bankruptcy in 2005. Last March, Roger Mezitt and wife Merylyn attempted to change the Chapter 11 designation to Chapter 7, which would have shut down the business and liquidated assets to pay creditors. The attempt was not successful.
While Roger Mezitt was not available for comment, his brother said, "It has been a difficult time for both sides of the family."
Click here for complete article from metrowestdailynews.com
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