FALL RIVER ─ The proposed purchase price for the Pearl Street parking garage by the sole bidder, James Karam of First Bristol Corporation, is $1,050,000 and just $350,000 shy of the suggested minimum bid of $1.4 million on a property in need of over $5 million in repairs.
“We propose to preserve the Property’s parking use, undertake a phased rehabilitation program, and provide ongoing professional management of this important downtown asset,” wrote Karam in his bid proposal.
The request for proposal opened the door for any bidder to submit a purchase amount lower than $1.4 million, which is being sold as is, if the bidder can show good reason for a lesser dollar amount.
The financial bid portion of the RFP submitted by Karam was opened on Wednesday after a committee meant to compare bid offers completed their assessments of the single bid.
In Karam’s bid response, he cited the parking garage’s condition and the substantial deferred maintenance of the structure, that’s been well documented, as the reason for a lower pricing amount.
The Fall River Redevelopment Authority owned and operated the parking garage between 2008 and 2019 after taking it over from the city for one dollar in 2008. It was returned to the city in 2019 in poor condition.
Due to the structures condition, only 261 of its 374 parking spaces are usable.
In the bid amount letter, Karam failed to mention that the other impediment to selling the Pearl Street garage at a market rate range, a 30-year lease agreement signed in 2013 by the FRRA, that gives the lessee the option to rent out all of the approximately 374 parking space at a discounted rate until 2043. Karam is that tenant.
The next step in selling off the Pearl Street garage built by the city in 1980 is to get City Council’s approval.
The council will then send it to the Real Estate Committee which will vote on a recommendation to either give its approval or not. The issue is then sent back to full committee for a vote.
While historically the City Council has been amenable to selling off so-called surplus property, it’s not always been the case.
In January 2024 in a 6-3 vote, the council rejected the sale of the historic Bank Street Armory to local developer Alan Macomber for $200,000 after six months of debate.
Macomber had plans to invest an estimated $10 million to $12 million to convert the 1897 fortress-like structure into market rate housing.
The armory still sits empty, and the structure continues to be at the mercy of the elements. However, the city secured a matching $30,000 grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission to conduct a feasibility study.
The Bank Street Armory was shuttered by the city’s building inspector in 2015 due to safety concerns and severe deterioration.
