Legacy Place’s first tenant, Maine-based retailer L.L. Bean, is set to open its doors on July 24, despite a few missteps and bumps in the road.The Planning Board gave Legacy Place approval to open up to 350,000 square feet of the roughly 700,000 square foot facility last week, and developers say they hope to complete all infrastructure work within a few weeks.
The Board determined that Legacy Place had completed enough infrastructure work to support half of the total square footage of the lifestyle center.Attorney Peter Zhaka, representing Legacy Place, said that “well over 90%” of the work they had promised to do had been completed, including both on and off site work.They had intended to finish by the end of June, Zhaka said, but the extraordinary amount of rain received this spring had slowed them down.
P.F. Chang’s China Bisto will be the next to open on August 3, and an additional 20 stores will open following that.Legacy Place developer Bob Frazier pledged that 100% of work would be completed before any of those stores open, consistent with the terms of the special permit.
Planning Board members Ralph Steeves and Jay O’Brien each expressed concern that opening a store while construction was ongoing could create a dangerous situation.Developers told the Board that any construction currently going on at Legacy Place was being conducted indoors as tenants readied their stores, and that it would not pose a hazard to the public.
This explanation was not good enough for O’Brien, a steelworker, who voted against the determination. It did placate Steeves, who voted in the affirmative with the other three members.Before any store can open the Building Department must issue a certificate of occupancy certifying that it is safe for the public.
Legacy Place has also put up a $2.3 million bond to ensure completion of the infrastructure.Zhaka said this was an amount equal to what all offsite work cost, and is four to five times what is needed to complete the project.Legacy Place itself, and all the offsite work they agreed to, must be 100% complete before the Planning Board can give approval to open the other half of the project, prompting Frazier to say the bond was a “belt and suspenders” approach.
Board member Mike Podolski said he found bonds to be “very unsatisfactory performance vehicles,” but said he would agree to it after receiving Town Counsel’s approval on the language.Such approval was eventually made part of the motion.
Combined with the safety concerns and complaints by O’Brien about a lack of communication from developers, Zhaka and his clients began to fret that they may not receive the approval they needed.They stressed that since L.L. Bean was planning on opening before the next meeting of the Planning Board that the Board’s determination at this meeting was critical.
“I can not stress enough the urgency,” Zhaka said.Frazier added that all the work would be completed within a month, and that he was seeking the help of the Board.After the meeting, which ended after 11 p.m., Frazier rushed out to phone L.L. Bean executives who were waiting for his call.
Earlier in the day Legacy Place and L.L. Bean officials met with Town Administrator Bill Keegan and Selectmen Mike Butler and Jim MacDonald.L.L.Beach had advertised a three day grand opening celebration in which they would be open 24 hours.This violates a town bylaw prohibiting retail transactions between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
The store will had proposed hosting an open house during the early hours instead, but scrapped the plan when several Selectmen opposed the idea.They will now open on July 24 at 9 a.m., and will give out gift cards worth up to $500 to the first 500 customers.The Red Sox’ Wally the Green Monster will be on hand from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and the L.L. Bear will greet customers from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
