Hi Jonathan. WEB is working with WASSD as part of the Whalley Avenue Main Street Committee to address this lot as we are well aware that it has been an sore spot for the community for quite some time. The issue, as I'm sure you are well aware, is that for a very long time the owner, who lives in New York, wanted a ridiculous amount of money for the lot so there were no takers.

Recently he has become more reasonable with his price, thanks to a lot of guidance from the exec director of WASSD, Sheila Masterson, so that she is now starting to work on finding investors who would do the type of development the community wants which is mixed use. WEB has also suggested to Neighborhood Housing Services that this might be a good intro into commercial real estate for them, as they could do a mixed use development here as well.

Bottom line is that we in WEB are working together with WASSD and the city's Economic Development office to get some movement on this site, and after MANY long years and MUCH frustration there is some movement. Hopefully in 2017 will hold the promise of an announcement of a development, and we will keep working hard to make that happen.