GEORGETOWN — Developer Stephen Karp yesterday signaled that his company is moving forward with plans for a hotel along the Merrimack River, saying the firm, Newburyport Development, has "become more aggressive" in that area since his last visit to the city in March.
Karp said the main catalyst is the result of a market study of Newburyport regarding a hotel. He said in most cases, such a study would compare similar businesses, but none exist in the area, which caused the company doing the study to underestimate the potential.
"I think we are becoming a little more bullish on it," he said.
Karp, chairman and CEO of Newton-based New England Development and Newburyport's largest landowner, spoke to a group of about 380 people at the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Industry's annual meeting. The location of the meeting, the Georgetown Club, a spot 12 miles south of Newburyport, made it into Karp's remarks about a hotel along the waterfront.
It is the only venue in the area able to accommodate such a large crowd.
Jokingly criticizing the logistics with the projector in the room in which he spoke, he said people kept telling him "if you built a hotel in Newburyport, you wouldn't have that problem."
"We'll work on that," Karp said, to applause.
Karp owns Waterside West, the 8-acre plot of land from the Black Cow Restaurant to the Route 1 bridge along the Merrimack River. He also owns a large chunk of the downtown's historic retail district. Karp's plan would be the largest redevelopment project in downtown Newburyport since the mid-1970s.
Yesterday's visit with the region's top business and governmental leaders is the second large-scale meeting the billionaire developer has had with locals since March. The March trip, his first public visit to the city, attracted almost 700 people. The event yesterday was sold out.
Karp said his local development team, headed by Tony Green, continue to work on Waterside West. He said the area will include first-floor retail space with housing and a hotel integrated on the top floors.
In a drawing, the proposed buildings have a very Newburyport-like look and feel: tall, historic-inspired brick buildings lining streets that slope down toward the Merrimack River.
Karp also showed a drawing with a rough pattern on how Waterside West will be laid out. He said the area will include a parking garage, more parking for Michael's Harborside, a park along the water, "view corridors" so that the river can be seen from Merrimac Street, housing along the water, a U-shaped road through the project and the continuation of the boardwalk through the project.
"I think the entire area and the entire project is something that will have several uses," he said. "The uses will complement one another."
A major next step is working out all Chapter 91 issues, state laws that dictate what can be developed along waterways in Massachusetts, Karp said. A part of that is ensuring public access, he said.
"It's important to us to make sure there is plenty of public access to the waterfront," he said. "We are working on that now."
He said they company is also working on the flow of traffic through the area, how that traffic works with other downtown traffic flows and parking. He reiterated that while the Waterside West project must include its own parking, he is still willing to work with the city on other parking options.
"We would be welcome to participate in it if we are asked," he said.
Karp also took some time during his speech to explain the history of New England Development and the company's attraction to Newburyport.
He said the company started as a mall developer, with the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers as its first mall. He said after developing many malls in New England, the company had to make a choice in the mid-1990s whether to go public or to get out of the business.
New England Development sold its malls in 1999 "because retail was changing," Karp said. He said they investigated the future of retail and found it in mixed-use projects. The Pinehills, a 3,000-acre development in Plymouth, was the first to start and is about 60 to 70 percent complete.
"It is all about lifestyle," he said. "It is all about what people want."
He said the heart of mixed-use development is "in a way, creating a downtown."
"That's what attracted us to Newburyport: You already have that here," he said.
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