Westwood Station developers have agreed to install solar panels on part of the roof of the scheduled Wegmans supermarket after delaying construction of an office building that was supposed to hold them.
The developers said construction of the office building is being delayed while the search goes on for tenants.
Developer Cabot Cabot & Forbes initially proposed erecting the green office building along with retail and residential buildings during the first phase of construction, which is scheduled to begin this fall, but decided earlier this year to push the offices off until phase two.
"The determination to do that was pretty straightforward," said CC&F Vice President Adam Berger. "It's a function of not just the tenant market but the financial market. It's very challenging, if not impossible, to get an office building financed without a tenant."
Berger said the company is aggressively recruiting office tenants, but has not received any commitments yet.
Under its special permit application, CC&F agreed to install 6,000 square feet of solar panels in its first office building, which would be used to test the feasibility of applying similar technology and other green features to subsequent office spaces.
Responding to concerns the board raised at a July meeting, Berger said the firm agreed to place the equivalent amount of panels above the retail building that is slated to hold a Wegmans supermarket.
But Planning Board member Steven Olanoff was not satisfied, urging developers at a Tuesday night meeting to install solar panels on the entire retail roof space above Wegmans, which will sit in the middle of the project between University Avenue and Westwood Station Boulevard.
"That solar ray panel would be 6,000 square feet, which represents 2 percent of Wegmans' roof. It's not a lot," Olanoff said as the meeting was wrapping up. "I think we can do a lot more than that. We all know that solar panels, it's not something that is a matter of if it's going to be coming, it's a matter of when, and I think when is now."
Neither of the other two board members present, Chairman Robert Malster and Robert Moore Jr., nor the developer responded.
Although the timing of the office building construction is now unclear, CC&F still plans to install solar panels on the roof when it does find a tenant, which will be part of the effort to get the building certified under the national Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines, Berger said.
Developers are including many other features that will make Westwood Station environmentally friendly, including installing a piping system that will capture and reuse rainwater that falls on the roofs, Berger said.
"Solar panels are such a small part. ... It's a really green project," he said after the meeting.
Daily News staff writer Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com
