Honoring Bill McCall
Cummings Properties founder addresses Leadership Breakfast

Woburn - Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties, LLC, recently addressed more than 800 real estate professionals as the keynote speaker at the eleventh annual United Way of Massachusetts Bay Real Estate & Building Industry Leadership Breakfast, held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.

The event reportedly raised more than $2 million for United Way of Massachusetts Bay.

The breakfast honored Bill McCall of McCall & Almy, Inc., for his role as a philanthropist and mentor to many in the real estate industry.

During his remarks, Cummings said that McCall "has shown his integrity throughout a lifetime of dedication, service and hard work. He provides a remarkable example of what individuals can accomplish in both their personal and professional lives, when maintaining their integrity is at the core of all that they do."

Cummings also appreciatively recalled the lease deals McCall had brought to the then fledgling Cummings Properties more than 30 years before and noted that he and McCall had been friends for decades.

In keeping with the philanthropic theme of the breakfast, Cummings discussed the activities of Cummings Foundation, Inc., which he founded in 1986 and oversees as its president.

Cummings Foundation has grown its endowment from about $50 million several years ago to more than $500 million today, principally through real estate donations from Cummings and his immediate family members.

According to Cummings, more than 60 percent of all Cummings Properties buildings have been donated to the Foundation.

The 2.1 million square foot Cummings Center in Beverly is the largest Cummings property presently not owned by the Foundation. The capacity crowd listened intently as Cummings described the risks he took purchasing the former United Shoe Machine Company's Beverly headquarters, initially offered for sale for $56 million, for $500,000, and transforming it, into the thriving business and research complex it is today. He reported that Cummings Center now houses 370 almost all new client firms, with about 3,800 on-site staff, and more than $200 million annual payroll.

As a private operating foundation, Cummings Foundation primarily helps support its own not-for-profit subsidiaries, including two first-class, assisted-living communities. Cummings noted that a third subsidiary of the Foundation has been established in connection with a recently announced $50 million commitment to the School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

In briefly explaining Cummings Foundation's range of activities, Cummings noted the James L. McKeown Scholars program, which has awarded more than $1 million in college scholarships to greater Boston area high school seniors since 1997.

Cummings stated, "This program honors the memory of Cummings Properties' late president and was created, in part, from memorial donations made in Jamie's memory by many in this hall today."

Also reflective of the Foundation's support for youth education, Cummings Foundation recently donated seed funding for the YMCA of the North Shore's newly constructed teen center.

Following an October 28 dedication ceremony, the center is now the Douglas Stephens YMCA Teen Center in memory of the Cummings Properties executive vice president and treasurer who died earlier this year, after a valiant battle with cancer.

Stephens, a 30-plus year employee of Cummings Properties was well known for his commitment to helping young people.

"When the Foundation switches in several years from being an operating foundation, and becomes instead a so-called grant-making foundation, it will likely be one of the most significant charitable organizations in New England," Cummings continued. In the meantime, the Foundation's status as an operating foundation greatly limits the amount of money it can donate to non-affiliated charitable organizations.

Founded in 1969 in Woburn, Cummings Properties has evolved into one of Boston's most prominent,full-service commercial real estate development and property management organizations. Cummings Properties currently operates more than 8 million square feet of primarily commercial space in 10 metropolitan Boston communities.