BRA owes us for Modern Theater eminent domain deal
“The former owners of the historic Modern Theatre are suing the Boston Redevelopment Authority for breach of contract, alleging the agency owes them nearly $1 million as part of a deal in 2002 when the BRA took possession of the rundown building by eminent domain.
Cousins Daniel and Penny Levin claim in a lawsuit filed last week in Suffolk Superior Court that when the BRA seized the then-shuttered theater in 2002, paying their family’s realty trust $1.5 million for the seven-story building on Washington Street in Downtown Crossing, a top BRA official agreed in a letter to pay them “additional compensation” if the site was ever re-developed over the next 10 years with greater square-footage allowances.
Nearly six years later, the BRA board in September 2008 voted to grant Suffolk University the right to redevelop the 4,266-square-foot theater and erect a 12-story, 52,000-square-foot tower on the site to house a new theater, offices and a 197-bed student dorm.
Paul L. McCann, the then-executive assistant to the BRA director who wrote the letter, called the lawsuit “frivolous.”
“This letter agreement was more window dressing for Dan Levin … I told him the letter wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on,” McCann told the Herald, adding the Levins were paid “full fair value” for the dilapidated theater. “He’s not entitled to a dime more.””
Weir, Richard. Boston Herald 3 October 2014.