Beverly Mayor Wants To Give Restaurant Tax Breaks

BEVERLY, MA — The only proposal submitted to redevelop a city-owned, waterfront property would get a 40-year lease and would not have to pay property taxes for the first two years under a plan being backed by Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill. Cahill asked city council to support the proposal, which includes lease payments of $6,250 for the first years, to let the plan to build a three-story, upscale casual restaurant called the Boathouse move froward.

Lease payments would rise incrementally over the terms of the lease, to a high of $44,289 in the final year. The proposal laid out by Cahill has the restaurant receiving tax discounts after the tax-free, initial two years, and would save MAB Group, the project developer, more than $300,000 in property taxes over the first five years.

"Beverly has been very judicious in its support of projects seeking tax incentives, selecting those that will yield job growth, make substantial investment in Beverly, and in this case, will act as a catalyst in attracting additional investment along Beverly’s harborfront,” Cahill wrote.

The city received one response to a request for proposals issued last year to develop a restaurant on the city-owned, waterfront property. MAB, which also operates Mission Oak Grill in Newburyport and Mission on the Bay Restaurant in Swampscott, had initially asked for a 50-year lease.

MAB was the only firm to submit a proposal. If accepted, construction would begin later this year and the restaurant could open in the fall of 2020. In September, the city put out the request for proposals and said it may offer incentives to developers to fill the McDonald's that has been empty since it closed in 2006.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).