Sports facility proposed for town land South of Hospital Road area to NW of McCarthy Park

The town has been approached by Anton Melchionda of Dover about building a basketball facility on the town owned land at the part of the former Medfield State Hospital site that is South of Hospital Road and to the Northwest of McCarthy Park – at the left side in the aerial view above. He is scheduled to present his proposal at a February 25 Select Board meeting, but I thought people would want to know more about the proposal now where it came up at last night’s Select Board meeting in relationship both to its potential to increase the traffic on Hospital Road and the annual town meeting (ATM) warrant article place holder created for it.

Anton has met with Town Administrator, Kristine Trierweiler and all three Select Board members. I am sharing below my notes of my telephone call with him.

Per the town’s agreement with the state when the town purchased the former MSH property, the town may develop up to 12 acres of its 38 acres of land South of Hospital Road. Plus we have to pay half of any sales price we receive to the state.

My current thoughts:

(1) it would have to be a hugely advantageous project to the town to interest me, as I am currently in no rush to develop the land. I think that land will only gain a lot of value once the Trinity project is built. NB that the town also retains the 12 acre Arboretum parcel at the front of the former MSH site, which could be exceedingly valuable if the town adjusted the zoning;

(2) if the project assisted the Medfield Park & Recreation Commission with their programs, that would be important to me. I am currently unclear how much value the proposal would provide to MPRC, as the details are lacking. I did sense that MPRC would get time to use the facility when the developer’s groups are not using it, but the problem with that is that everyone wants to use the facility at the same time, namely, when the kids are not in school.

(3) any buildings should be in the back field that hugs the railroad tracks (at the bottom left in the aerial view above) so as to be as far from Hospital Road and the view scape from Hospital Road as possible.

(4) nothing should be built on the sledding hill or near Hospital Road.

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Telephone call from Anton Melchionda
December 17, 2024 (1:03pm)

1. Avenue Restaurant partner with childhood friend Josh
2. Grew up in Amherst
3. Lived on Tubwreck in Medfield
4. Works in Needham
5. Happenstance with MSH due to walking and sledding there
6. Runs a club program for about 1,000 families around Boston –
7. One year in to looking to build a facility
8. Public private partnership for South of Hospital Road
9. His core business is RE development, office in Needham – Onyx Partners – does
   a. Retail
   b. Warehouses and logistics
   c. Multifamily Housing
   d. Mainly outside Massachusetts – land too expensive
10. White Mamba BB
    a. With Brian Calabrini = former Celtic
11. Bay State Jaguars = young woman’s program, national, but Massachusetts focus
    a. Programs are for grades 1-12
12. Operating both programs are 501c3’s
13. BB is their focus – kids are multi-sport athletes
14. Would not compete with Kingsbury Club’s pickleball and tennis
15. Courts could be available for community uses
16. Plan to provide outdoor fields
17. Provide training, athletics, and comfort for people using facility
18. Would make an 8 figure financial commitment
19. Medfield Park & Recreation Commission could be part of their project – ? Specifics
20. Needs to know what they need to present to town
21. Wants to get decision by annual town meeting (ATM) this year
22. Have tried elsewhere it sounded like
23. I cautioned about municipal projects taking longer
    a. They are self funded, unlike Trinity