By Bob Katzen
The Revenue Committee held a hearing on legislation that would allow cities and towns to implement a local option tax on owners of enclosed shopping malls that have less than 67 percent occupancy in their retail spaces for a continuous period of at least nine months and fails to convert a proportion of its property to other specified uses, to be determined by the city or town, for lease or sale. The measure also allows the city or town to determine the amount of any new tax.
“This legislation grants municipalities the freedom to use tax incentives to push commercial landlords toward reinvestment and renewal of their rental properties by finding new tenants or converting to other uses the municipality deems desirable, such as housing, civic spaces or mixed-use developments based on their community’s needs and planning objectives,” said sponsor Rep. Adam Scanlon (D-North Attleborough). “This bill would provide another tool to our cities and towns to address excessively vacant properties that otherwise would continue to go unused and therefore lead to non-maintenance and deterioration.”
Scanlon continued, “Throughout Massachusetts, numerous traditional shopping malls are facing prolonged decline due to various consumer and economic trends. Vacant stores and underused commercial properties lead to decreased property values in the vicinity, strain municipal services and diminish once-bustling centers of local economic activity. When mall owners permit these vacancies to continue without reinvestment or redevelopment efforts, the surrounding communities suffer through lost tax revenue and neighborhood stagnation.”