Wife ot MBTA chief leads Fenway lawsuit against agency

 

 

FAMILY AFFAIR: MBTA General Manager Richard Davey is married to Attorney Jane Willis, as seen on the Ropes & Gray Web site, who represents a property owner suing the T over the Fenway station. 

 

 

 

 

 

The wife of the MBTA’s general manager is the lead attorney in a lawsuit that centers on the construction of a new Yawkey Commuter Rail Station, the Herald has learned.
Jane Willis, a partner at Ropes & Gray, is married to MBTA general manager Richard Davey. In March 2009, Willis filed a lawsuit on behalf of HRPT Medical Buildings Realty, a neighbor of the Yawkey station - which is set to be renovated and connected to Fenway Center, a proposed $500 million residential and retail development that would straddle the Massachusetts Turnpike.
HRPT is suing the city of Boston zoning board over its approval of the Fenway Center project, and to keep the development moving forward, the board must win the suit. But Fenway Center developer John Rosenthal said he believes the lawsuit is aimed at trying to land a financial windfall from the MBTA, which wants to upgrade Yawkey station, by forcing it into an eminent domain taking.

 

“It’s outrageous,” said Rosenthal, when asked about the revelation that Davey is married to HRPT’s attorney.

Davey, who is also transit administrator of Massachusetts Department of Transportation, disclosed his wife’s involvement in the suit in a July 29 letter to state transportation secretary Jeffrey B. Mullan, four months after he was appointed and after the MBTA was subpoenaed in the suit.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said Davey recused himself when Rosenthal joined the lawsuit to aid the city. Pesaturo said there was no potential conflict prior to the developer’s involvement in the suit.
Pesaturo released a statement saying Davey has acted with “an abundance of caution” and “will remove himself from any and all real estate and construction matters pertaining to the Fenway Center development.”
State officials said yesterday that Davey disclosed his potential conflict to his “appointing authority,” as required by law.
A math whiz, Willis was portrayed by Kate Bosworth in the film “21,” which depicted a group of brainiacs from MIT and Harvard who made a fortune counting cards in Las Vegas blackjack games.
She did not return a call, but Ropes & Gray released a statement saying HRPT has been a client “for many years,” and noting that Davey was appointed a year after the suit was filed.
The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk County land court on March 27, 2009, contends a property easement required by the Fenway Center project would hinder the loading operations at HRPT’s building, located at 109 Brookline Ave.
But the renovation of Yawkey station, which is critical for the MBTA, requires access to the HRPT property.
“The project is intended as a transit-oriented development, the benefits of which relate to the construction of the New Yawkey Station,” HRPT’s complaint, signed by Willis, reads.