The developer of a proposed 350-unit apartment complex in the New England Business Center in Needham has donated

between $15,000 and $20,000 worth of furniture to Needham’s Town Hall and public works offices.

The Zoning Board of Appeals is expected to vote on the project tonight at the public library.
“If anyone feels it crosses the line, we don’t expect any quid pro quo for it,” said Jay Doherty, president of Cabot, Cabot and Forbes of New England.
Doherty said in an interview that Cabot, Cabot and Forbes donated the furniture “just to make life easier and more enjoyable” for the towns in which the company has developments.
The furniture came from a former RCN building in Westwood Station, which the developer is demolishing to make way for a housing, retail, and office complex.
The Boston-based firm also donated furniture from RCN to the Westwood town manager’s office and two nonprofit organizations — the Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston and the Hale Reservation in Westwood .
John H. Cogswell, chairman of Needham’s Board of Selectmen, said the town has already accepted the furniture.
LAUREN K. MEADE
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