NEW BEDFORD — The city of New Bedford has filed a land court action over unpaid taxes for the Star Store — former home to UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts, according to a press release from Mayor Jon Mitchell's office.
Court records show the city filed the tax lien complaint on Oct. 15 against Star Store Holdings LLC for collection of $487,795.73 in unpaid fiscal 2023 taxes, plus $37,232.85 in interest, for a total of $525,028.58.
"In addition to the $525,000 in unpaid taxes for FY2023, Star Store Holdings owed almost $1 million in unpaid taxes from other years," the city's press release reads.
New Bedford is being represented by attorney David E. Condon of Louison, Costello, Condon & Pfaff, LLP , the release notes.
According to a document included in the court filing, the Star Store land and building at 182 Union St. was "taken because taxes ... for the fiscal year 2023 were not paid within fourteen (14) days after a demand for payment was made on *STAR STORE HOLDINGS LLC on June 30, 2023."
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The document, signed by New Bedford Tax Collector John Taxiarchos, shows the land-taking was executed on Feb. 14. Information found on the Mass. Secretary of State website shows Star Store Holdings LLC was formed in 2021, and lists Matthew J. Downey as resident agent and Paul C. Downey as manager.
As of Wednesday, a look at the most current case information showed no scheduled date for future action on the matter.
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On Aug. 31, 2023, UMass Dartmouth vacated the Star Store building after over two decades having its College of Visual & Performing Arts programming there. UMass Dartmouth moved into the site in 2001, with the understanding that it would purchase the building from its ownership at the end of the lease in 2021. After that, legislative extensions were granted for continued use of the site in 2022 and 2023, but not for 2024. Upon leaving the Star Store, UMass Dartmouth moved much of its College of Visual & Performing Arts programming to the former Bed, Bath & Beyond in North Dartmouth.
In a statement released in 2023, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Mark Fuller wrote that the university declined to follow through with the purchase due to "a huge deferred maintenance bill which [the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance] … estimated could cost up to $75 million," and the absence of funding from the Legislature for 2024. This past September, the Mass. Inspector General's Office released a report placing responsibility for the failed plan on UMass and DCAMM.
DCAMM "did not exercise ownership over the project and did not undertake capital improvements that would have made the purchase option more attractive to the Commonwealth," Mass. Inspector General Jeffrey S. Shapiro wrote in the 138-page report. "The University of Massachusetts system and UMD likewise did not ensure that capital repairs and improvements were made over time, despite the Legislature making funds available to protect the value of the Star Store over the course of the lease."
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford files complaint in Land Court, seeks $525K in unpaid taxes on Star Store
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