Westwood Station developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes has put together its proposal for millions of dollars in I-Cubed infrastructure funding and plans to apply for the state funds soon, a company spokesman said yesterday.
"It will be submitted within a matter of weeks," said spokesman Michael Goldman, hastening to add that the Infrastructure Investment Incentive is "one of a mosaic of funding options" for projects, such as Westwood Station, that are far along in development.
I-Cubed is a special state law that could provide up to $50 million for on-site infrastructure for Westwood Station, the 4.5-million-square-foot "smart-growth" project planned for University Avenue. I-Cubed - seen as a way to drive large-scale development - fronts state capital funds for public infrastructure to developers in exchange for a guarantee of economic benefits such as job creation and related tax revenues.
Goldman said a decision has not been made about how much I-Cubed funding Cabot, Cabot & Forbes will seek. "We're certainly going to apply for the maximum that we're eligible for," he said.
Still, other government funding may turn out to be more cost-effective, he added.
"We expect that our project and others like ours will be beneficiaries of the effort by the Patrick administration and the Obama administration" to get the economy going again, Goldman said. He noted that while an expected massive federal stimulus package will only be finalized once President-elect Barack Obama takes office, Massachusetts will "get its fair share of dollars."
"We're very optimistic. Things are moving along well. We've gotten a very positive response from the governor, the lieutenant governor," Goldman said. "Everyone's very anxious to make these projects move forward, because it's going to be a very tough year for development."
Cabot, Cabot & Forbes already has committed to spending $120 million for infrastructure and mitigation work for Westwood Station, including about $80 million for infrastructure such as highway ramps and roads.
The project must navigate financial markets in "enormous distress" as it lines up construction financing, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes President Jay Doherty said recently. The developer is spending $1 million per month this winter on the Westwood Station site, where building construction has not yet begun.
Doherty is "value-engineering" the 1.1-million-square-foot first phase of Westwood Station to reduce costs on the project, which once carried an overall price tag of $1.5 billion. Goldman said 2011 is the opening date for the retail and residential Phase I.
"Now that we've gotten through some of the bumps of 2008, we're moving ahead," he said. "We're very optimistic about 2009, and we're very optimistic about meeting our open date."
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
