LEDGERLAND

S A T U R D AY

NOV
14/ 2009
15
PA G E 9

STUCK IN NEUTRAL
Twelve years after it was closed, the South Weymouth Naval Air Station still hasn’t been redeveloped
SOUTHFIELD CAMPUS MOVIE STUDIO
DELAYED
TAKEOFF Several plots of land have been cleared, leveled and
stubbed with electrical and plumbing connections so a
The $100 million SouthField Studios would be built
near the base’s water tower (which will be torn down)
commercial developer could move in immediately. Plans and would have an entrance at the north side of the vil-
Slow progress at South Weymouth base call for nearly 1.3 million square feet of commercial space. lage center. The Phase 1 plans call for six sound stages
First of a three-part series and 145,000 square feet of office space on 22 acres.

By JACK ENCARNACAO
THE PATRIOT LEDGER PRESENT PRESENT

T
WEYMOUTH
he agency in charge of the former South Weymouth
Naval Air Station has spent about $42 million in the
past decade to redevelop the land. But the only new
building there is a marketing center – where potential
tenants are pitched sites that the developer still can’t
access. More than a decade after military use of the
property ended, about two-thirds of the developable
acreage is still owned and controlled by the Navy.
The lack of progress contrasts sharply with what has happened
to closed bases elsewhere. Of the 24 bases the Navy marked for
closure in 1995, the Weymouth base is one of only three that have GARY HIGGINS PHOTOS/THE PATRIOT LEDGER

not been transferred out of military hands. Four of the six Air
PROPOSED PROPOSED
Force bases that were marked for closure that year have been
completely transferred, as have 25 of 34 Army bases. Several
bases that closed around the same time now boast bustling
industrial and commercial development.
The reasons behind the stalemate in South Weymouth center
around bad decisions, bad timing and, in some cases, plain bad
luck. They include a revolving door of leadership at the base
oversight agency, South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., a
funding structure that relies heavily on the bond market, the
Navy’s refusal to hand part of the base over for free, and a lack of
tax rates for the properties to be developed.
STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

THE SOUTHFIELD PROJECT

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houses, apartments and single-family homes. Road ma and some offices are envisioned for the village center,
clearing has been done. A park divides the road, which is which would have 250,000 square feet of commercial space.
paved and has parking spots already painted. The large hangars and buildings there now are to be razed.
ESTATES AT SOUTHFIELD
The “golf village” would include the 18-hole South-
PRESENT Field Links golf course, a banquet hall and single-family PRESENT
residences and townhouses. It would be at the south-
ern end of the site, where the old runway begins.

PRESENT

PROPOSED PROPOSED

PROPOSED