Fall River apartments are planned at this former school. City will make a profit, too.

FALL RIVER — After sitting idle for 14 years with a broken promise to redevelop the property, the sale of the 117-year-old former Lincoln Elementary School on Pine Street is expected to be completed within a week with plans to convert it into 24 market-rate apartments.

And the city, which sold the property to city businessman David Hebert in 2016 for $10,000, is going to receive a percentage of the proceeds.

Attorney Matthew Thomas, who handles real estate for the city, said Somerset developer Kenneth Mollicone, owner of Hyde Development, is purchasing the Lincoln School from Hebert for $425,000.

In a forbearance agreement between Hebert and Mayor Paul Coogan’s administration, the city will receive 42% of the sale of the property, which totals $178,500.

The sale of the former Lincoln School wasn’t the original deal the administration had hoped to broker between Mollicone and Hebert.

Former Silvia School out of the deal

In 2016, Hebert convinced the City Council Committee on Real Estate to sell him both the former Silvia Elementary School on Hartwell Street and Lincoln school for a total of $15,000.

In his pitch to the Council, Hebert promised the redevelopment would include a boutique hotel and restaurant at Silvia and a high-end apartment building at Lincoln.

Hebert, who was a co-defendant in the corruption case against his friend and former Fall River mayor Jasiel Correia II, never redeveloped either property.

In September 2020 at the Silvia School, the city inspector found health and safety violations at the blighted three-building, one-acre property and ordered it boarded up to keep squatters out of the complex. 

Real estate deal:A developer bought these former Fall River schools for $15K. He just sold them for $850K.

Last June, the administration thought they had both the Silvia and Lincoln schools sold to Mollicone for $850,000, with the city receiving $357,000 of the sale proceeds.

Mollicone had indicated to city officials that he intended to redevelop Silvia school into a hotel.

But after a closer look at the dilapidated structure, which is known to be contaminated, Mollicone decided not to purchase the former school.

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“I guess they did a study and it came back that it didn’t make economic sense to do that,” said Thomas.

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Hyde Development has to meet benchmarks

When Coogan took office in 2020, Hebert had owned both schools for four years with little to no activity.

The first month in office, newly appointed Corporation Counsel Alan Rumsey filed a claim with the housing court that the city could exercise its right to revert the schools back to the city because conditions for redevelopment were not met.

Rumsey said the former schools came on the administration’s radar when they were approached by the Fall River Preservation Society after they received copies of the city’s purchase and sales agreement through an open records request.

The forbearance agreement to pay the city 42% came out of negotiations with Hebert.

Also included in the sale are deadlines that the developer agreed to, said Thomas.

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“There is a development rider attached to the deed that sets forth development benchmarks that they’ve got to meet,” said Thomas.

“They are also giving us a $75,000 irrevocable letter of credit, which is backing up the development schedule,” said Thomas.

So far, Mollicone has received a variance for the project that includes a commercial component from the Zoning Board of Appeals and has an approved site plan review, said Thomas.

Hyde Development received a unanimous vote from the TIF Board at its meeting last Monday granting a 10-year Tax Increment Exemption, a tax break on added value of redeveloped housing projects.

As far as the future of the Silvia School, Hebert still holds ownership and what the city intends to do remains unclear.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Market-rate apartments coming to Fall River's Lincoln School