?–THE MOST GENEROUS MAN IN BRAINTREE F.X.MESSIN
FIRST THERE WAS CAMPANELLI THEN FLATLEY
AND NOW FX MESSINA
BUILDING SUCCESS A LIFE OF SUCCESS A HARDSCRABBLE CHILDHOOD INSTILLED IN BRAINTREE DEVELOPER THE VALUE OF HARD WORK
In the late 1940s, finances forced Francis X. Messina to drop out of Braintree High School for a job as a construction laborer. Ever since, he has worked seven-day weeks to grow F.X. Messina Enterprises Inc. Messina is planning six residential and retail projects. So far, he's built about 2,000 housing units, 3 million square feet of industrial space, and 1 million square feet of retail in five suburban shopping centers from Braintree to Hartford. Messina, a licensed pilot in his 70s who is shopping for a helicopter, talked about his career with Globe correspondent Susan Diesenhouse.
Q. What are you developing now?
A. We just completed Turtle Crossing, a 201-unit 40B [affordable housing] condo [development], and next month will start site prep for a 136-unit 40B, Reservoir Crossing, here. In June, we'll finish building Casino Wharf in Falmouth Heights: a 200-seat restaurant and eight condos, $1.5 [million] to $2 million. By September, we'll finish Liberty Place, 12 condos here priced up to $750,000. In Rocky Hill, Conn., we're building Horizon Commons, a 170,000-square-foot shopping center.
Q. How did you get started?
A. I was working as a laborer for Cassoli Brothers, a Braintree builder, and got them to buy a dump truck. I thought they should buy a second but they didn't want to. So, with $350 I saved and $350 I borrowed from my boss and guys at work, I bought a truck and rented it back to Cassoli. I saved more money to buy industrial land around town. With two high school friends, I put in roads and buildings. I sold five acres to Coca-Cola for a warehouse distribution facility and with the cash bought more land. Sometimes we sold land to raise money but we've held most of it. Pieces we bought for $1,000 an acre now go for $500,000 and we're still developing it. I stayed in Braintree because it's a good location. . . . I was born and raised here; I know it.
Q. When did you get into residential?
A. In the 1950s, me and the late Frank Marinelli built $9,800 houses for veterans who put down $500. Then in the 1960s, I did custom ranch houses with one-car garages on old farms I bought. In the 1970s, we built Braintree Village [formerly known as Monatiquot Village], a 324-unit affordable rental complex with loans from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency. Now, we're building luxury condos and just did a 40B condo project. So far, about 10 percent of our units have been for low-income people.
Q. Did neighbors resist the affordable housing?
A. Back in the '70s, people probably hated us for it. Even if they lived a mile away, they didn't want to be near housing with 25 percent low-income tenants. But later, the divorced mother or retired couple realized it helped them, too.
Q. Why risk the scorn of neighbors?
A. I was determined because I was a poor kid. My father died when I was 1 and my mother when I was 6. My sister, Grace, raised five boys I was the youngest so we didn't get put in an orphanage. I'm grateful and know what it's like to be on welfare. Grace once took me to city hall to get free shoes but I wouldn't wear them.
Q. What's been the most satisfying project?
A. In the 1980s, we renovated my old high school into 58 rental apartments, The Landmark. It was 99 percent complete when a fire gutted it. I was sick and considered tearing it down. But we got so many letters asking us to rebuild I had no choice. The condo market went soft so we rented. Now that the market's back, I won't sell. It means too much to a lot of people.
Q & A / FRANCIS X. MESSINA, FOUNDER, F.X. MESSINA ENTERPRISES INC.
By HE WHO WILL NOT BE DESTURBED
