Robert L. Culver will step down from the position he has held since 2004 as president and CEO of MassDevelopment, according to a press release issued Dec. 29, 2010, by MassDevelopment Board Chairman Gregory P. Bialecki. Culver will remain in the position during the search for a successor.
“I am proud to leave behind a strong, well-capitalized statewide organization ready to build on its impressive record of leveraging private investment to build homes, create jobs, and reclaim blighted property around the Commonwealth,” said Culver.
In the press release Bialecki noted that, under Culver’s direction, MassDev developed the 4,400-acre Devens project, attracting Bristol-Myers Squibb and Evergreen Solar, which together employ nearly 1,000 skilled workers.
Throughout his tenure, Culver supported Scenario 2B, an effort by MassDevelopment and the JBOS (Joint Boards of Selectmen) to accelerate disposition of Devens. Scenario 2B was voted down at the Oct. 24, 2006, special town meetings in Ayer and Harvard; Shirley’s town meeting approved it.
At a JBOS meeting on Feb. 25, 2010, Culver complained about the result of the vote and lectured the JBOS on the effort MassDevelopment had put into the development of the 2B solution, saying, “We have put a lot of money and time into disposition [of Devens], hundreds of hours of meetings and discussions, and to what end?”
Disposition of Devens remains an important topic for Harvard residents, given the effort sponsored by MassDevelopment to renovate and repurpose Vicksburg Square. Trinity Financial, the developer chosen by Culver to redevelop Vicksburg Square, has held “listening sessions” in the towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley. The company is developing a vision for the historic Devens structures to be presented to the towns sometime this winter and would like to have the towns vote in a “super town meeting” in the spring to proceed with development.
