East Braintree Civic Association

Fore River Shipyard

Quirk Reveals Shipyard Ideas

2-27-03

Quirk reveals shipyard ideas: Says he has marine tenants; details lacking

By JULIE JETTE
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - Three-quarters of the Fore River shipyard will be used by marine industrial tenants under a preliminary redevelopment plan from auto dealer Daniel J. Quirk.

Quirk's $9 million bid was the highest offered at the auction for the shipyard last month. If it survives a legal challenge by runner-up Jay Cashman, a construction company owner, Quirk will take title to the yard on March 17.

At a meeting with about 120 residents, business people and local officials at the Quincy Point Congregational Church last night, Quirk was short on specifics. He said he had signed confidentiality agreements with a number of companies interested in becoming tenants at the shipyard.

‘‘My plan is to keep the yard in one piece, and I do intend to develop it myself,'' Quirk said. ‘‘The main thrust will be blue-collar jobs in Quincy Point and Braintree.''

Quirk plans to use the 20 percent of the site that is in Braintree to hold the weekly car auctions he currently conducts on Riccuiti Drive in Quincy.

That plan will likely meet with resistance in Braintree. An item has been placed on the town meeting warrant that will require a special permit for auto sales ‘‘so the town would be more protected as to the development,'' Selectmen Chairman David Shaw said after the meeting.

‘‘It's unfortunate from the Braintree side. I don't see any (property) improvements or jobs,'' Shaw said.

Quirk said the auction will be the first business to open at the shipyard. He said car carriers will use the MWRA truck route over Quincy Avenue to deliver 700 to 800 cars a month.

Because the bidding documents give the purchaser of the abandoned equipment at the yard a year to remove it, Quirk said he wouldn't be able to begin renovating or tearing down most of the buildings until then. He does plan to demolish some smaller buildings soon after he closes on the sale, he said.

Several members of the audience said they didn't think jobs associated with the auction would be the kind of high-paying employment residents are hoping to see.

Quirk reiterated that he expects the yard's tenants will provide well-paying, blue-collar jobs, but he also took issue with the suggestion that auto industry jobs pay poorly.

‘‘I employ 700-plus people in the city of Quincy and in Braintree, and I don't think many of those people make minimum wage,'' Quirk said.

City Council President Daniel Raymondi, who also leads a committee that had asked the U.S. Maritime Administration, which controlled the auction, to stop the sale until Quirk submitted a plan, sounded a conciliatory note.

‘‘We need to continue the discussion, but it's an important first step that he's reaching out to the community,'' Raymondi said.

Mayor William Phelan said the city wants to see the creation of good jobs, improvements to the property and uses consistent with the neighborhood at the shipyard.

‘‘It appears those goals are the same goals Mr. Quirk has,'' Phelan said.

Julie Jette may be reached at jjette@ledger.com.

Copyright 2003 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Thursday, February 27, 2003

January 17, 2003 - Patriot Ledger

Cool response to Quirk plan: Purchase of Fore River shipyard is met with skepticism by local officials


By JULIE JETTE
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - Auto dealer Daniel Quirk’s $9 million winning bid for the Fore River shipyard met with controversy almost as soon as the auctioneer’s gavel sounded to finalize the sale.

Another bidder threatened to protest Quirk’s late entry into yesterday’s auction, and Quincy Mayor William Phelan hinted the city might try to intervene in some unspecified way.

Quirk, meanwhile, said he plans to move his 1,800-car auction business from Ricciuti Drive in West Quincy to the former shipyard. He said the auto auction would take up no more than a quarter of the 130-acre property, and he would develop the remainder. He said he had heard already from two interested industrial users and one retailer.

While Quirk bought the land, all the equipment on the property, including the landmark 1,200-ton Goliath crane, was purchased yesterday for $3.3 million by Myron Bowling Auctioneers of Ohio. The company was there as a bidder, and did not run yesterday’s auction. Company owner Myron Bowling said he plans to reshuffle the lots of equipment and conduct another auction at the shipyard in April.

The shipyard was last appraised in 1997 and valued at $48 million.

Phelan hinted the city could try to fight Quirk’s acquisition of the property.

‘‘The auction is the first phase of the transfer of the property; it is not the transfer of the property,’’ Phelan said. ‘‘This is the beginning of the process, not the end of it, and we still have work to do to determine what is going to happen to the shipyard and who is going to acquire it.’’

Phelan wouldn’t say how Quirk could be prevented from taking possession of the property.

Quirk said repeatedly he planned to work with the city on developing the property, and yesterday he signed a ‘‘pledge of cooperation’’ with Phelan.

‘‘You want the use to fit in with what the city would want,’’ he said.

As far as locating the cars to be auctioned, ‘‘I’d probably find the place in the shipyard that was the least conspicuous to do it,’’ he said.

But other local officials also said they were unhappy that Quirk had won the bidding.

‘‘I’m very disappointed. I would think that a prime industrial site with a deep-water port and rail access would be better used,’’ said state Rep. Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat who represents the Quincy Point neighborhood where the shipyard is located. ‘‘There must be a better use than storing cars.’’

‘‘I’m not sure that exchanging a parking lot for jobs is what this process should have been all about ... and that’s what it is,’’ added city council President Daniel Raymondi.

Local officials were also angry with the U.S. Maritime Administration, which controlled the auction as the largest creditor of failed shipyard developer Massachusetts Heavy Industries.

Mass Heavy Industries, which was given the right to develop the property in 1997, left government agencies with $81 million in bad loans when it failed to win contracts to build ships. It owed the maritime administration $59.5 million.

The last ship was launched from the yard in 1986 by General Dynamics Corp., which was then the owner.

The maritime administration first revealed it planned to auction the property last summer, and associate administrator Jean McKeever assured city officials that the public would have a role in the process.

‘‘We feel that (the Maritime Administration) let the city down and reneged on its promise to have the community’s interest looked after and taken into consideration,’’ Phelan said.

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, said he would try to convene another neighborhood forum with Quirk as soon as possible.

‘‘I was unaware up until yesterday that he had an interest,’’ Delahunt said. ‘‘I think he does have an obligation now to come before the community and present his plans.’’

Quirk and two other bidders submitted offers earlier this week. While the official deadline had been Dec. 31, the Maritime Administration reserved the right to accept late bids.

Three other bidders who sent in offers before Dec. 31 - Dickinson Development of Quincy, construction company Jay Cashman Inc. of Boston, and a team involving two out-of-state developers - had sent representatives to a public forum in Quincy Point last week.

Late-bidders Quirk, Braintree developer Francis X. Messina, and Conroy Development of Stoughton, submitted offers too late to participate in that forum. Another auto dealer, Ernie Boch Jr., was approved to bid just before the auction yesterday.

Quirk said he hadn’t determined the method of financing yet, but said paying the $9 million would not pose a problem.

‘‘There are no contingencies here. This is a done deal and I’m going to close on the shipyard in 60 days or less. And there isn’t anything that’s going to get in my way, not that I can control anyway,’’ he said.

Jay Cashman, who teamed up with another bidder, Industrial Realty Group of California, said he was considering filing some form of a protest against Quirk’s bid.

‘‘The winner: foreign-imported cars. The losers: American industrial jobs, the city of Quincy,’’ said Cashman, who grew up in Quincy.

The bidding opened at about noon with Quirk’s $9 million offer, and none of the other bidders offered to top it.

The $5.7 million bid Cashman made when he submitted his offer to the maritime administration was the second-highest after Quirk’s, putting him next in line if Quirk failed to purchase the property.


Dickinson was disqualified from bidding by the Maritime Administration Wednesday because it had placed a stipulation in its bid seeking a 120-day environmental review period.

Auctioneer Michael Fox International, which ran yesterday auction, gave Dickinson the option of withdrawing the language. But owner Mark Dickinson said he chose not to because he was angry that the Maritime Administration allowed the new bidders.

Dickinson said he didn’t believe he had grounds to protest because he had been disqualified. However, he said he would support Cashman if he did.

‘‘If I were in Jay’s shoes, I would file a protest,’’ he said.

Associate Administrator McKeever and maritime administration attorney Richard Lorr attended the auction yesterday, but were not speaking to reporters. A member of the auctioneer’s staff made an announcement before the auction began, telling the media that McKeever and Lorr would not be available for comment and directing questions to a Maritime Administration spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman, Robyn Boerstling, issued a written statement that said the Maritime Administration was ‘‘satisfied’’ with the results of the auction.

‘‘The maritime administration is confident that the agency fairly balanced its responsibility to the taxpayer with the overall concerns of the local community,’’ it read.


Public investment

Federal and state agencies and the city of Quincy lent millions of dollars to Massachusetts Heavy Industries for the company’s failed attempt to reopen the Fore River shipyard. Most of them, like other creditors, will receive nothing on those loans.

Creditor, Owed, Collected
(millions)

MARAD, $59.5, $12.3
MassDevelopment, $8.6, None
Quincy, $8.2, None
MWRA, $5, None



The Quirk empire


With yesterday’s purchase of Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Dan Quirk will operate a dozen Braintree, Weymouth and Quincy sites and control 198 acres. The locations:

In Quincy:

—East Howard Street, Former Fore River shipyard, 130 acres
— 196 Ricciuti Drive, Quirk Auto Auction, 20 acres
—540 Southern Artery, Quirk Ford and Quirk Auto Body, 11 acres
—600 Southern Artery, to be Quirk Nissan, 7 acres
—99 and 111 McGrath Highway, Quirk Mazda/Volkswagen and Quirk Mitsubishi, 3 acres

In Braintree:

—444 Quincy Ave. and 372 Quincy Ave., Quirk Pre-Owned and Quirk Chevrolet, 18 acres
— 20 Granite St., Quirk Nissan, 3 acres
—37 Commercial St., Quirk Chevrolet, 3 acres
—280 Quincy Ave., Quirk Service Center, 2 acres

In Weymouth:

—12 Taber Court, Quirk Kia, 1 acre

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