Framingham Officials Meet Privately Over Perini Building Issues

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Some of Framingham's top elected officials met privately with the owners of the Perini building this week. Officials wouldn't say exactly what was discussed, but the meeting likely revolved around addressing a lapsed lease between the School Department and the Perini owners.

The Framingham City Council's Finance Subcommittee was supposed to review a proposed $13 million purchase deal for the building Tuesday. That discussion was postponed to allow the mayor's office, School Committee members and councilors to meet with the Perini owners Thursday.

When asked for comment about Thursday's meeting, Framingham Chief Operating Officer Thatcher Kezer said through a spokesperson that the meeting was about the building purchase. However, the School Committee voted in early February to convene a meeting between the Perini owners, the mayor's office, and city and school officials to discuss the lease. School Committee Chair Adam Freudberg declined to comment about what happened at Thursday's meeting.

Last fall, the mayor's office began accepting bids for a new School Department lease, but only the Perini owners responded. The company offered the city a new, five-year lease in the building, along Mt. Wayte Avenue. At the time, the mayor's office was already in negotiations to buy the building.

In January, Mayor Yvonne Spicer asked the City Council to approve a three-month lease extension, a placeholder to allow purchase negotiations to continue. The council instead voted to approve a one-year extension. The School Committee in December also voted for a one-year extension.

On Jan. 24, Perini Management Services CEO Robert Band warned city officials that the School Department's lease was set to expire Jan. 31 and urged officials to consider the five-year renewal.

"Perini responded to the city's [bid request] on Oct. 1, 2019. We received notification from the city on Nov. 26, 2019, that our proposal was accepted," Band wrote. "We request the city's position on the five-year accepted lease as well as their position on the current lease, which expires as noted above."

The lease expired Jan. 31 without an extension in place, and the School Department is now renting on a month-to-month basis.

On Feb. 4, the City Council sent the lease issue back to the School Committee. Meanwhile, the building purchase deal was sent to the Finance Subcommittee to proceed on a separate track.

The purchase deal would need a unanimous City Council vote to pass. But some on the council, including Finance Subcommittee Vice Chair Michael Cannon and member George King Jr., are unhappy with how the mayor's office handled the School Department lease. The purchase must emerge from the Finance Subcommittee with a do-pass recommendation to have a chance at passing a larger City Council vote.

The City Council and the Finance Subcommittee are not set to meet again until Feb. 25 and Feb. 27, respectively.

The building is owned by an LLC called Mt. Wayte Realty. Band and Tutor Perini CEO Ronald Tutor are listed as managers of that company. Tutor Perini Treasurer John Barrett is listed as Mt. Wayte Realty's contact person for real estate transactions.

Tutor Perini is one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world. The Perini company was founded in Ashland in 1894 and was based in Framingham until 2008, when it was renamed Tutor Perini and moved to Sylmar, California. The company has worked on large-scale projects such as the recent deep-bore tunnel underneath Seattle and the Hudson Yards project in Manhattan.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Mayor Yvonne Spicer negotiated a six-month short term lease. The least extension was three months.