On 2.4 Million Project
Lowell Developer Chris Cox has all the Right
Connections But all the Wrong Answers

Lowell resident and private developer Chris Cox stands to make a fortune on
low income housing in the City of Lawrence. And he is getting lots of help
from some very surprising places. The list of officials on the Chris Cox
band wagon reads like a who's who of money men and city officials, and it
shows.

He has been pushing around city workers as though he was part of the
Sullivan Administration and apparently has unrestricted access to City
Attorney Peter Slipp, Planning and Development Director Thomas F. Galligani
Jr., (who came from Lowell) Mayoral Aide Myles Burke, and scores of others
including a very "excited" Israel Reyes who is running for City Council and
sits as a voting member of the Planning Board.

Mayor Mike Sullivan even praised him during his state of the city address a
month ago. Cox had no problem citing Mayor Sullivan's support as he stood
before the planning board Wednesday Night amid questions about shady
business dealings and his questionable relationship with City Attorney Peter
Slipp.

Who is this guy and who is he really working for?

Maybe Mayor Sullivan should have asked a few of those questions before
getting in bed with this guy.

Questions about Ownership:

Chris Cox told the Planning Board that he is the owner of 42-44 Park St.  He
appeared before the Board asking for a special variance (exception) to the
limit on how many units he could build. If the variance is granted Cox would
more than double his profit margin by putting in twenty-four housing units
instead of twelve.

Cox told the Planning Board that the value of each home was between $100,000
and $129,000 but his advertisement in the local newspaper "Rumbo" states the
value of each unit is $175,000.

Listening to Mr. Cox you would think he is doing the city a favor. He's only
here to help our so-called "low income housing shortage," he claims.

But when questioned a little more carefully by City Councilor Mike Sweeney,
Cox admitted he was actually not the owner of the property. "According to
this deed, the property is granted to Henry Grillo who is a trustee of East
Bay Trust, Sweeney said. " So I am confused by the ownership issue."

Changing his story in mid meeting, Cox then claimed that Henry Grillo was
his CPA and he was also a "trustee" of East Bay Trust, which supposedly owns
the building. A building with a very odd history of ownership and
questionable real estate transactions.

Planning Board Chairman, Les Bernal read a letter from Nancy Weinstein,
director of Mental Health Resources ,who said that they hold "a valid
purchase and sale agreement" on the property. The plan by Mental Health
resources is to help mentally disabled residents in a program called the
Point After Club.

"The property is under agreement with Mental Health Resources..." the letter
read. "Our application was approved by the Planning Board."

Speaking of Applications...

Planning Board applications for all requests require that all paperwork must
be completed in its' entirety and that incomplete applications will "not be
accepted."

It seems that these rules apply only to people with no personal, political
and business ties to the Sullivan Administration because his application for
variance was missing some very important information, yet, it was accepted
for consideration anyway.

What was missing? How about the signature of the owner, a pretty important
detail to be overlooked by Mr. Cox and 'someone' at Community Development.

When questioned about this, Cox deferred to his "attorney" who said that, at
the time of the planning board application Mr. Cox (or maybe his trust
depending on which of his stories you believe) was "not the owner of the
property." He said that it would have been illegal to represent himself as
the owner and sign the application when the property wasn't his.

This revelation didn't sit well with Councilor Sweeney, whom Cox tried to
intimidate during his questioning of the endless improprieties surrounding
Cox's involvement with the property.

"So an application for this project was made before the individual actually
owned the property?" Sweeney asked. "I guess there was a lot of confidence
about the acquiring of the property. It seems unusual to me. If he is the
owner I would think it is just matter of a formality for him to just sign
the application now."

After the meeting, the application was still unsigned by Mr. Cox.

Sweeney revealed that the Secretary of State's office also "shared" his
concerns about the property. Not true, according to Cox who then ran off a
litany of prominent people whom he has been "working with" on this.

"Prior to taking ownership of the property I ran the title search, put all
the documents together, and went before your City Solicitor Peter Slipp, who
reviewed everything and said everything was in order."

Remember, Mr. Cox is not a City employee but a private developer. Why is
Atty. Peter Slipp working on and reviewing legal documents for a private
citizen on city time?  Because he is a former business partner with Atty.
Slipp and the business they were involved in was dissolved under more
questionable circumstances.

Tire Systems Inc.?

"I find it interesting that the City Atty. Peter Slipp was involved in
helping a private citizen review a title search," Sweeney told the board. "
Perhaps that's the reason the City Council in unable to get, in a timely
manner, the numerous items we have had before the City Attorney's office."

That's when Sweeney turned his line of questioning to the personal and
business relationship between Cox and Slipp. "I was wondering if the Atty.
Peter Slipp that you mentioned, who is a City Attorney, is also the same
Peter Slipp from 126A Pleasant Valley Street in Methuen who was a listed as
a clerk for the now defunct corporation Tire Systems Incorporated?

"We have no knowledge of that." Cox's attorney spoke up adamantly as Cox
reiterated the same, adding, "Where is he going with this? "

Sweeney was unfazed. "I want to know of your involvement with Peter Slipp?
I'm confused because there is a Christopher Cox who is listed as the
President of that organization, so I'm confused by the relationship."
Sweeney shot back.

"I'm curious again," he continued "because I didn't get an answer to this,
I'm just curious if any city, state or federal money is presently committed
or if the applicant /slash owner will be seeking  federal , state or city
money for this particular project in the future?"

Cox went on a rant about how he is helping the city with low income housing
and didn't understand the questioning of Sweeney until Board Chairman Les
Bernal stopped him in mid -sentence and made him answer the question.

At first, Cox told the Board that the answer was "yes" but then backtracked.

"Is any money been committed, absolutely not. Will I be looking for some? It
would help."

According to sources in City Hall, Mr. Cox has indeed applied for public
assistance to build this project and has been promised thousands of public
dollars to offset costs by members of the Sullivan Administration. Using his
numbers, (which we now know are bogus) Mr. Cox is building 24 units at a
selling price of about $100,000 a piece. That's 2.4 million dollars.

Factoring in the cost of the land, construction costs and legal fees for all
the shadow players involved, the cost to Mr. Cox is about a million dollars
leaving a net profit of $1.4 million before you factor in all the money he
has been promised by the Sullivan Administration.

Cox says in his Rumbo ad that he is giving away a free home when the project
is complete. Just a small price to pay (the actual cost of one unit)
considering the hefty pocket changes he and others will make.

On top of all this, Cox has been slated by Mayor Sullivan to build over a
hundred new units of housing on Park Street. HE said so in his state of the
city address. And, according to Cox, this Park St. project is the start of a
100 hundred unit development plan he and Mayor Sullivan have worked out.

It's a scene right out of the Sopranos.

Property changing hands by the same individuals claiming to be real estate
trusts, intimidation of City workers and anyone with a question, back room
deals and a donation or two to ease along the process.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. What do Charles Boddy, Chris Cox and Peter Slipp
all have in common?

Stay Tuned!

Later in the week I will answer that question as well as the role of other
officials involved in this project and the prior dealings of Mr. Christopher
Cox.