Boston-based developer Copper Mill is suing investment firms POB Capital and Pactolus over a planned 754-unit residential development on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, a dispute that could delay badly needed housing.
Here's what to know
After the project cleared a key permitting hurdle, Copper Mill said the deal around the 2.24-acre site at 75 Morrissey Blvd. changed. In a lawsuit reported by The Boston Globe, the Boston developer accused investment firms POB Capital and Pactolus of trying to push it aside.
Copper Mill said it agreed in December 2024 to buy the property for $67.5 million, with the sale scheduled to close once city approvals were in place.
Those approvals came in August 2025, when the Boston Planning and Development Agency signed off on two 18-story residential towers totaling 754 units.
Copper Mill chief executive Andrew Flynn said in a statement that the company had "worked closely with the city of Boston and neighborhood stakeholders to earn their support and approval for the development of 750 housing units — housing that is needed now, without further delay."
He added, "We continue to believe strongly in the vision for this site and its importance to Boston residents."
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That comes as home prices in Boston and the surrounding region remain high and relatively few large housing developments are moving ahead.
More background
Copper Mill said POB and Pactolus paid $56 million for the land in 2017 and then did little with it for years, before its value climbed after the permits were secured.
In one exchange included in the complaint, POB managing principal Richard Holly allegedly told Flynn, "If you guys actually secure permits for 754 residential units at the property, [Pactolus CEO Alan Harter] and I are going to look like morons" for agreeing to the $67.5 million price.
Copper Mill argued the remark shows the firms regretted the deal after the difficult development work had already been completed.
Josh Zakim, a former Boston City Councilor and executive director of Housing Forward MA, told the Globe the dispute is hitting at a particularly difficult time for the city.
"It's a significant project, especially these days when there's not a lot of developers even trying to do something of this size," he said. "Hopefully it can get moving again as soon as possible."
What's being done?
In Suffolk Superior Court and Massachusetts Land Court, Copper Mill asked a judge to enforce the original sale agreement and let the property transfer move forward under the initial terms.
The developer is also seeking damages tied to what it says were efforts by its former partners to block the closing.
Under the original purchase-and-sale agreement, the closing was set for June 2026. If that date passed, the agreement would be void, and the investors would regain ownership of the property.
Copper Mill further alleged the firms intentionally did not raise capital through a proposed joint venture even as the developer continued advancing the project.
The complaint also said POB and Pactolus pitched the property to another unnamed Boston developer at an $82.5 million valuation while describing the site as "shovel ready," despite what Copper Mill said was an agreement barring them from shopping the property.
"Copper Mill hoped this step would not be necessary, but looks forward to recovering its rights to the property at 75 Morrissey Boulevard and the damages caused by its former business partners' conduct," Aaron D. Rosenberg, an attorney with Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green PA who is representing Copper Mill, said in a statement.
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