The real issue with 1023 Main Street, Worcester wasn't Spectrum Health. It was taxes.

[Brian J Allen]

Now that we're about six months removed from the debate, it's time to revisit what actually happened. Here are three articles that made it into the papers:

"Addiction treatment group buys building in Main South, fueling neighborhood angst"

"Spectrum Health Systems adds property in Worcester as it moves headquarters to Westborough"

"Main South neighborhood remains on edge about planned drug treatment facility"

I find it ironic that no one asked me (the listing agent) how the owner of the property chose Spectrum Health as the buyer. With all the grandstanding after the fact by city councilors and residents, you would have thought someone would have wanted to know the timeline of the sale of the building.

The reality is quite simple. The owner decided to sell the property because it was tough to turn a profit there due to the high tax burden imposed by the city. I was asked to represent the owner in the sale.

We worked hard to find a buyer, but it didn’t happen right away. The owner really wanted to sell to a business that could use the function room within the building. Ironically, the offers we had from private entities to purchase the property were approximately $200k less than the final price.

Why was this the case? The city taxed the owner out of business, charging $21k a year in taxes, and all potential buyers were aware of this tax burden.

We had other bidders, many of whom were churches, but they couldn't secure financing due to the high purchase price of the building.

If folks like Former City Councilor Sarai Rivera were so worried about what would become of the building, they should have come forward before the sale.

Personally, I'm glad they didn’t because it's one thing to be forced out of business and have your selling options limited by the city's burdensome tax policies. It would have been another to lose your potential buyer because the neighbors didn’t want them in the community.