City of New Bedford Taking Star Store Owner to Court Over Unpaid Taxes

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — In the latest chapter of the saga of the former Star Store building in downtown New Bedford, the City is now taking the owner of the building to land court over unpaid taxes.

The City of New Bedford announced today that it has filed action in state land court against Star Store Holdings LLC, which owns the former Star Store building located at 182 Union Street.

The building was most recently home to UMass Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts before the university hastily pulled out of the building just before the Fall 2023 semester.

READ MORE: New Bedford's Star Store No Longer Will Serve as UMass Dartmouth Campus

According to the City, Star Store Holdings LLC – and the head of the LLC, local real estate developer Paul Downey – owe unpaid taxes on the property totaling more than $525,000 for Fiscal Year 2023.

In addition, the City said Star Store Holdings owes almost $1 million in unpaid taxes from previous years in addition to what is owed for FY2023.

The City filed a tax lien complaint in Massachusetts Land Court last week, seeking foreclosure on the land and the building.

Attorney David E. Congdon of the law firm Louison, Costello, Condon & Plaff, LLP is
representing the City in the matter.

Back in September, the Inspector General released a scathing report that called the deal between the City of New Bedford and Downey back in 1999 that saw the City sell the building to the developer for just $1 a “sham procurement,” and later called the deal between Downey and UMass Dartmouth to utilize the building as an arts campus “wasteful.”

READ MORE: IG Says New Bedford Star Store-UMass Dartmouth Deal "Wasteful"

The City of New Bedford had previously taken possession of the Star Store building for unpaid taxes in June 1995, after it had sat empty for about eight years following the store’s closing.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell had floated the idea that the City could purchase the Star Store building back from Downey in a WBSM appearance back in September 2023.