CAMBRIDGE — Following a closed meeting Thursday, the Cambridge City Council voted to direct the city’s special legal counsel to complete a property transfer agreement for land on Cambridge Harbor and to finalize the drafting of a non-disclosure agreement with Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc., the group spearheading the Cambridge Harbor project.
The council entered into closed session to receive legal advice regarding pending litigation and to discuss a personnel matter.
Currently, the city is in litigation with CWDI.
In a lawsuit filed May 1 and amended May 3, the city alleges CWDI is in violation of a transfer agreement it entered into with the city in June 2021. The 2021 transfer agreement gave CWDI roughly 22 acres of land — including about 2.6 acres subject to a lease agreement between the city and Yacht Maintenance Company — for $5.
The property transfer agreement that the council has directed special legal counsel Tim Maloney of Joseph, Greenwald and Laake to complete is between Yacht Maintenance and CWDI Holdings, a limited liability corporation that CWDI created. The agreement will allow for the transferring of Cambridge Harbor property from CWDI Holdings to Yacht Maintenance.
That property was transferred from CWDI to CWDI Holdings, which the city alleged violated the 2021 transfer agreement in its May 1 lawsuit.
This agreement that the city has directed Maloney to complete hinges on an escrow agreement with the city where the money from the property transfer is held for future infrastructure for Cambridge Harbor.
Also a part of this vote, the council directed Maloney to complete a lot line agreement, which establishes the exact property line for the property transfer.
The second vote the council took following the closed session meeting on Thursday was to complete the drafting of a hotel non-disclosure agreement that, if entered into, would mean the city agrees to not disclose information deemed confidential by CWDI regarding a potential deal with a boutique hotel developer to build on Cambridge Harbor.
At a CWDI Board of Directors meeting in March, Board President Angie Hengst said an agreement with a boutique hotel developer was nearing signing.
The council voted in favor of completing the drafting of the non-disclosure agreement between the city and CWDI.
In an interview Friday, Cambridge Mayor Stephen Rideout said the drafting of the non-disclosure agreement was something that came out of mediation with CWDI.
On May 22, Rideout released a statement saying the city had entered into a mediation agreement with CWDI before a retired judge. On Friday, Rideout said the city and CWDI are still in mediation. He declined to comment on how mediation is going or the current status of the relationship between the city and CWDI.
Once drafted, the non-disclosure agreement will need to be brought back to the council for a vote on whether to enter it.
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