The Romney administration was unhappy -- very unhappy -- when I started calling two weeks ago about Republican moneybags Arthur Winn's campaign to pry loose maybe $20 million in no-interest or low-interest state loans for his overbudget Columbus Center, the mega condo and hotel project that will straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike. ''This is a very sensitive project," Eric Gedstad, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, told me this week.
Winn's codeveloper, Roger Cassin, has been the front man for the $450 million (and counting) monster, with Winn doing his best to stay out of sight. Winn, however, has been an absolute media hog compared to Chris Fleming, the invisible man in Columbus Center. But Fleming, the project manager, the day-to-day quarterback, is worth watching -- particularly as the state is considering writing a big check for Columbus Center.
Fleming is a developer who comes with a history -- a long history of failed projects and costing other people money.
Start with one of Fleming's most recent busts, the 1,000-acre Mount Greylock project in Western Massachusetts. A report by the Massachusetts inspector general, released immediately after the project was mercifully killed three years ago by Acting Governor Jane Swift, was harsh on both Fleming and the state process that awarded him the deal. Among the conclusions: Fleming's proposed development team was a sham; financial commitments for the project were shifted onto the state from the developer; the state failed to uncover that both Fleming and his company had filed for bankruptcy protection. And on and on it goes for 42 pages.
Greylock Glen fits a pattern. Fleming likes projects that involve public funding. He invests little or no capital on his own. And his projects are often plagued by delays and cost overruns. Litigation soon follows, including one lawsuit by his cousin. In 1993, Fleming and his company filed for bankruptcy, with debts of $55 million. At the time of his bankruptcy filing Fleming owed more than $900,000 in taxes and penalties to Newton, Boston, and Springfield.
Neither Fleming nor Cassin-Winn would talk about any of this, a spokeswoman said.
Winn and Cassin are on top in Columbus Center, but as the guy who runs the project day to day, Fleming's M.O. should be of interest to the state. For instance, the state hired a consultant, Byrne McKinney & Associates, to evaluate the competing proposals for Greylock Glen. Byrne McKinney signed off on the Fleming team's ability to handle the project even though it and other consultants ''generated no meaningful information" on Fleming's financial resources, according to the inspector general. Among things they missed was Fleming's bankruptcy filing. The same consultant was key in supporting Cassin-Winn's argument that it needed to build big to pay for the project.
Winn and Cassin were awarded the choice turnpike parcels without bidding, arguing they already had spent millions in predevelopment costs. Fleming also said he spent more than $1 million on predevelopment on Greylock; the inspector general said he was unable to substantiate those costs. (Aside: As head of real estate at the turnpike, Robert Ruzzo played a major role in awarding that no-bid contract to Winn and Cassin; now he is deputy director of MassHousing, which is considering Winn's financing request. MassHousing's executive director, Thomas Gleason, says Ruzzo has not been involved in the Columbus Center discussions.)
If Doug Foy, the Romney administration's point man on Winn's bid for millions from the state, signs off on this deal, I'm going to be the next guy in line. Consider: I have never filed for bankruptcy. I pay my taxes. I've never been sued by my cousin. And I could use a no-interest loan, too. Why not me, Doug?
Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902.