Petersen Pool Negotiations Focus on Financial Risk

Town officials and the developer selected to build the Petersen Pool and Ice Rink at Braintree High School are working toward an agreement but have had to navigate difficult financial terrain.

"We've made some progress," Mayor Joseph Sullivan said in an interview Tuesday. "It's all about risk and liability."


Sullivan said that he and the developer – Quincy attorney Robert W. Norton – have had two "productive" meetings in the past month and are zeroing in on an arrangement to build the recreational facility. 

That agreement will still ultimately include the basic framework laid out in the past by Sullivan, including public and team ice and pool time and a 50-year lease on town-owned land where Carson Field is now.

However, the parties have not been able to come to agreement yet on who takes on unforeseen risks during the construction process, Sullivan said. It is still unclear, for example, whether the town or developer would cover the cost if the facility needed a sewer line extension.

Sullivan said he understands that costs are heavy in the construction and early operation phases for a developer, but he also wants to limit Braintree's liability. The 50-year lease period can help the developer generate profits over the long-term, and the mayor said he wants to ensure the pool and rink are quality structures that last decades.

"We're working through it," Sullivan said.

The scheduled closure of the Zapustas Ice Arena in Randolph next year could benefit the Petersen negotiations, Sullivan said, as the developer may see that as a boon to participation in a Braintree rink.

Earlier this year, members of the Petersen evaluation committee deemed two plans to design, construct and operate the pool and ice rink unsatisfactory. Both bids scored low marks in areas such as building plans and financing detail, according to members of the evaluation committee that sent the proposals on to Sullivan this spring.

The bids were submitted by Norton and Carl Zingarelli, a longtime Babe Ruth volunteer. Norton, a personal injury lawyer with the firm Giarrusso Norton Cooley & McGlone, PC, is also listed with the National Hockey League Players’ Association as a certified player agent. He has not responded to requests for comment.

The town had originally hoped to break ground last fall and have the athletic complex operating by the end of 2013. It offered bidders $1.5 million from a fund set up in the name of Tugboat Capt. Julius Petersen after he died in 1963. He put aside $65,000 over the years the fund grew to more than $2 million.