Tom Ambrosino
A $22.7 million award through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has proven to be the key ingredient in reviving a stalled parking lot project near the MBTA station in Revere - a project that is crucial to enabling a $500 million beachfront development to move forward.

"This parking garage was the critical piece that we could never finance," says Revere Mayor Tom Ambrosino. "The stimulus program made it possible for us to develop this project."

According to Ambrosino, the parking garage is one piece of a much larger development project at Wonderland train station in Revere. The large scale project involves a combination of hotel, office and residential space to be developed on 10 acres of beachfront property on the eastern side of the train station. That property is currently being used as surface parking lots.

Train Arriving
"The key component is this parking garage on the western side of the train station for parking for the development and to provide replacement for commuter parking," notes Ambrosino. "This Wonderland parking lot was a critical first step essential for us to get [Waterfront Square development] built."

The federal stimulus funds provides Revere with the leverage it needed to access other federal and state grants as well as MBTA bond revenue funds to finance the parking garage project.

The Waterfront Square property has been eyed by the city of Revere for its development potential as far back as the 1970s. "Basically, we are replacing acres of parking lots with a beautiful development," says Ambrosino. "The whole area will be enhanced."

The city will also receive significant tax revenue from the property's development. "The federal stimulus dollars is the catalyst here," says Ambrosino.