It is hard to believe but this weekend marks the first anniversary since the tragic accident that took the life of Harold Dulong. Within the business and political community there is still a sense of disbelief and a palpable sense of deep personal loss at the thought of his passing. Many people have communicated the same thought when talking about Harold; “when my phone rings I sometimes expect he will be at the other end”.
Harold was gifted in human relations. He had a knack for making people feel special by a note or a call about a book or just a simple vibrant conversation. He had a unique ability to see to the heart of an individual problem and when it was identified his counsel was always consistent. “Life is short, let go of petty differences, clearly identify what needs to be done and take action”.
Our individual memories will hold the untold number of stories of Harold extending help to many members of the community. There was never a problem to big or to small for Harold. If it were a job, or a reference, legal, medical or marital problem his knowledge and experience were only a phone call away. For the people who were helped by Harold that part of history should rightly be held private. We can however review some examples of how he contributed greatly to the public history of the town
During the course of a 30-year career in Burlington, Harold’s professional accomplishments were numerous. The majority of important development brought forward during that period was represented by Harold and his co-workers at Riemer and Braunstein.
There were however three development projects which stand above all the rest in terms of historical and economic importance as well as technical complexity and extraordinary circumstances. The Trammell Crow, American Landmarks and Sun Microsystems projects will stand as testaments to his skill for many years to come. Each of these development projects was unique in the hurdles, which were presented and ultimately overcome.
Early in the 1980’s Harold was representing American Landmark Partners who had acquired the High Voltage site. The site, which lay at the top of the rise on Route 128 Northbound, was significant because of its early contribution to Burlington’s transition from a farming community to its present status as an engine of the Massachusetts economy. Shortly after gaining approval for its redevelopment, American Landmark had negotiated a sale of one parcel for then what was the largest per acre sale price in the town’s history.
However, on the brink of the closing of the deal disaster struck when it was learned that the parcel had significant contamination as a result of High Voltages industrial processes. This began a near 7-year court battle with the former owners over the clean up. Harold was in the forefront guiding the process through to its final conclusion with a clean up plan in place and the ultimate development by Genuity and Oracle, restoring the property to its former prominence in the town.
In 1986 Trammell Crow, the largest developer in the country at that time proposed a 1 million square foot development on the former site of Spray Engineering on Route 3A. The Burlington Planning Board rejected the project, which the developer subsequently over turned in an appellate court decision. This resulted in the potential for a long-term bitter conflict over the ultimate use of the site.
Rather than waste resources Harold embarked on a negotiation strategy. Working in conjunction with the leadership of the town, Harold proposed a unique solution to the problem. The solution was a new and creative planning tool called the Planned Development district, which for the first time in Burlington allowed for a mixed use in a development project. Over the next year and a half the parties worked to formulate a proposal accepted by town meeting which resulted in the over all project being reduced to 635,000 square which included office space, parking garage, small retail component and 75 condominium units of which 10% were to be made available as affordable. That commitment ultimately resulted in the town’s ability to acquire the military housing on South Bedford Street.
In what may be Harold’s crowning achievement in the town’s development history, he spearheaded the redevelopment of the RCA/GE/Lockheed Martin site. Again, this site was a most prominent site from a historical standpoint as it was the second major site in the town’s industrialization of the early fifties. Like the High Voltage site it also was enormously important to the property tax base and was beset with environmental problems.
Having stood fallow for several years Harold had been involved in several early stage inquiries as to what the town might view favorably being located there. Armed with the towns wish list of a campus style corporate headquarters, Harold soon brought forward a proposal by Sun Microsystems to locate an East coast corporate headquarters. The proposal was both grand in its development but also grand in its contribution to the town. Included was a $6 million dollar package of technology contributions to the towns school system as well as several million dollars of off site improvements, which substantially improved the roadways in the northern corner of the town.
Each time we drive by these examples they will stand as monuments to the professional talents of Harold Dulong as well as a reminder to many of us as to how much we miss him.
