2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title VII - Cities, Towns and Districts › Chapter 40j - Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation › Section 4a - Supplemental Powers

Section 4A. In furtherance of its public, purpose and essential governmental functions, and notwithstanding any general or special law or agreement to the contrary, the corporation shall have the following powers which shall be deemed and construed to be supplemental and additional to, and not in derogation of, powers conferred upon the corporation by law pursuant to section four of this chapter:
(a) to lease and to grant licenses, not to exceed 30 years in duration, with regard to all or part of the corporation's real and personal property to one or more private parties pursuant to such selection procedures and under such terms and conditions as the board deems appropriate and otherwise in a manner consistent with good business practices; provided, that such property shall be and remain for the duration of any such agreement ''land and tangible personal property of the Massachusetts technology park corporation'' within the meaning of section five of chapter four hundred and five of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-four and thereby exempt from any tax, excise, betterment or assessment imposed upon the corporation based upon or measured by its real or personal property and its use, including the sale, transfer or other disposition thereof; provided, further, that such land and buildings and other things erected or affixed pursuant to any such lease shall be taxed to the lessee thereof or his assigns in the same manner and to the same extent as if such lessee or his assigns were owner of the land in fee; provided, that the payment of any such taxes shall not be enforced by any lien upon or sale or taking of said land except that the leasehold estate may be sold or taken by the collector of taxes of the municipality of Westborough for the nonpayment of any tax assessed as aforesaid in the manner provided by law for the sale or taking of real estate for nonpayment of local taxes; provided, further, that in the case of a leasehold estate involving in any part the corporation's integrated circuit fabrication facility, a condition precedent to the sale of said leasehold estate by the town of Westborough shall be the approval of the board of the corporation, which shall not be unreasonably withheld. Said collector shall have for the collection of taxes assessed under this section all other remedies provided by the General Laws for the collection of taxes by collectors of cities and towns. The corporation shall include in any lease of such land or property a provision whereby the lessee agrees, in the event that the foregoing tax provision is determined by any court of competent jurisdiction to be inapplicable, to pay annually to the town of Westborough a sum of money in lieu of taxes which would otherwise be assessed for such year. Any use permitted by such a lease or license agreement shall be held and deemed to be a ''use for educational purposes on land owned by the commonwealth'' pursuant to section three of chapter forty A of the General Laws;
(b) to establish, with such safeguards as deemed appropriate by the board, one or more nonprofit or taxable subsidiary corporations to the extent that the creation of the same are consistent with good business practices under the Federal Income Tax Code of 1986, as amended; and
(c) to make, or to delegate to a lessee or a licensee the authority to make, improvements, construction, alterations or renovations to the real property of the corporation; provided, that where such activity is estimated to cost less than five hundred thousand dollars it shall not be a capital facility project and the provisions of sections thirty-eight A and one-half to thirty-eight O, inclusive, of chapter seven, sections forty-four A to forty-four J, inclusive, of chapter one hundred and forty-nine, section thirty-nine M of chapter thirty of the General Laws, and related statutes, shall not apply thereto.