Zoning subcommittee forwards HDIP zones for Suffolk Downs and Shirley/Green Street; HYM updates Portico and hotel timeline

The Revere City Zoning Subcommittee on Feb. 3 voted 4–1 to forward two Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) districts — one for Suffolk Downs and another covering Shirley Avenue/Green Street — with a favorable recommendation to the full City Council and authorization to submit the plans to the state’s Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC). The action authorizes the mayor’s office to begin negotiations on tax-exemption agreements if the state approves the HDIP plans.

Tom Skrowski, Revere’s chief of planning and community development, described HDIP as a two-part state tool available to the state’s 26 “gateway cities.” Locally, an HDIP can pair a tax-exemption (a local tax increment exemption on value created by a project) that can run for 5–20 years with a state tax credit capped at $2.5 million or 25% of qualified project expenditures. Skrowski said the city would submit both HDIP plans to the state; if the state approves, that authorization would allow the mayor’s office and planning staff to negotiate tax agreements with developers and return any proposed agreement to the City Council for final approval.

Why it matters: The HDIP is intended to make large, transformative projects more financially feasible in a higher-rate interest environment by reducing near-term tax burdens for a limited period and by unlocking state tax credits that require a local tax agreement.

Roll-call divisions and legal concerns: Committee Chair Zambruto repeatedly urged obtaining legal and fiscal opinions before approving any tax deals tied to projects that already have special permits; he asked the subcommittee to hold the measure in committee until those opinions were available. Councilor Novosowski and others said establishing HDIP districts is a necessary first step to allow the city to seek state approval and later negotiate project-level tax agreements. A substitute motion to forward the HDIP zones and the authorization to negotiate passed on a roll call (four yes, one no) and the items will be sent to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation.

HYM presentation and project status: Tom O’Brien of HYM Investment Group gave the committee an update on Suffolk Downs and explained why the company seeks the HDIP for the next phase, called Portico. O’Brien said HYM acquired Suffolk Downs in 2017 and described approximately $500 million of site investment to date (including infrastructure, public-realm work and site preparation) and an additional $250 million for the Amaya residential building. He said Amaya opened in February 2024 and has leased nearly half of its 475 units.

O’Brien outlined near-term work: a nationally branded, roughly 50-room hotel (about 70,000 gross square feet) expected to break ground in late 2025 and Portico — another roughly 475-unit residential building — with a target July start; he said the company projects substantial tax and fee revenues to the city from these next pieces. O’Brien said the site has paid more than $10 million in property taxes to date; Portico and the hotel together are forecast to push annual tax receipts materially higher (he estimated hotel-related Revere revenues plus property and meals taxes approaching $1.5 million and later projected larger totals as the campus builds out). HYM said Portico’s pro forma requires the HDIP to “make the math work” given higher interest-rate conditions.

Labor and construction: O’Brien and a HYM representative said future construction is committed to union labor; Councilor Argentio asked for that confirmation and O’Brien said yes. HYM said the Amaya construction produced approximately 750,000 union construction hours and peak onsite construction employment of about 375 people during construction.

Actions and next steps: If the state approves the HDIP plans, Skrowski said the mayor’s office and planning staff would be authorized to negotiate tax-exemption agreements with developers (HYM is the only current prospective user of the tool in the city’s HDIP districts). Any negotiated tax agreement would be returned to the City Council for approval; the subcommittee recorded a favorable recommendation to the full council on the HDIP districts and the authorization to pursue negotiations.

Vote: The substitute motion to report the HDIP zones and the authorization to negotiate with a favorable recommendation passed by roll call (four yes, one no); the chair recorded that the items would be forwarded to the full City Council with a favorable recommendation.

Ending: The HDIP districts now head to the full City Council. The subcommittee requested that city legal and finance staff prepare written legal and fiscal opinions on the structure and timing of any tax-exemption agreement before a final project-level deal returns to the council.

Selected quotes: "This is a tool only available to get the 26 gateway cities in the state. And it's a 2 pronged solution," Tom Skrowski, Revere Chief of Planning and Community Development, said, explaining the HDIP mechanism.

"We've spent probably at this point close to $500,000,000 of capital so far on the site," Tom O'Brien, HYM Investment Group, said in his project update. "Amaya is an additional $250,000,000."

"The math on these projects is a challenge for us. And so that's, in large part why the HDIP is needed for us to make the math work," O'Brien said.

Ending note: The subcommittee’s recommendation allows the city to pursue state approval of HDIP districts for Suffolk Downs and Shirley/Green Street and to negotiate project-level agreements only if and when the state program and council-level approvals align.