MVRCS Paid Cash for 40 Faulkner Street, Closing Records Confirm

On July 27, MNN filed a public records request¹ with Mystic Valley Regional Charter School (MVRCS) for the purchase, financing, and funding records behind its newest Malden property, a former factory building at 40 Faulkner Street. That same day, we published what we knew from the assessor's own files: the $2.5 million sale fit a two-decade pattern of MVRCS land purchases and their cost to Malden's tax base.² What we didn't yet have was how the School actually paid for it.

MVRCS answered on August 6 — ten business days later — with four sets of records: the recorded deed, the signed Purchase and Sale Agreement, closing financials including the settlement statement and wire documentation, and the Board of Trustees minutes that authorized the purchase. Along with the documents, the School told us directly:

"The School paid cash for the property, so there are no lending records, and the School used no grants, or federal funds for its purchase."

The records MVRCS produced are consistent with that statement. Here's what they show.

The Deed

Marie Doyle, Trustee of the Van Stry 2021 Family Trust, conveyed 38-40 Faulkner Street to Mystic Valley Regional Charter School by quitclaim deed for "full consideration" of $2,500,000. The deed was recorded July 24, 2026 at 12:57 p.m. with the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds as Book 85925, Page 56, carrying $11,400 in state excise tax stamps — the standard rate on a sale at that price. The property is listed as Parcel ID 102-733-301, the same parcel identified in our July 27 tax-impact analysis as a former factory building.

The Purchase and Sale Agreement

The signed P&S sets the purchase price at $2,500,000, payable at the delivery of the deed "in good funds via wire transfer, certified check, or MA attorney IOLTA check" — language that allows for a cash closing but does not by itself rule out financing. The agreement called for the deed to be delivered by July 31, 2026; the actual closing came in a week early, on July 24.

The Closing Disclosure: A Cash Deal, Documented

The settlement statement MVRCS produced is a standard federal Closing Disclosure, the form title companies use whether or not a loan is involved. On this one, the fields that would normally describe a mortgage are either blank or zeroed out: Loan Amount is blank, Interest Rate is listed as 0%, and no lender is named anywhere on the six-page form. The document was prepared by Tramontozzi Law Offices, LLC as settlement agent, file #2026-16.

• Sale price: $2,500,000.00
• Buyer-paid closing costs: $24,297.63 (title, recording, and prepaid taxes)
• Seller-paid costs: $113,736.92, including $84,787.21 to the City of Malden to clear the property's real estate tax obligation through the second quarter of 2027, and $5,154.71 for a final water/sewer account
• Cash to close, paid by MVRCS: $2,522,486.52
• Net proceeds to the seller: $2,384,451.97

One quirk worth flagging rather than glossing over: the form still carries a checked box for a "VA" loan type, a 30-year loan term, and boilerplate mortgage-loan language about security interests and foreclosure later in the document. Taken alone, that could read as evidence of financing. Taken with the rest of the same document — a blank loan amount, a 0% interest rate, no lender listed anywhere, and a full cash down payment matching the entire purchase price in the settlement agent's own transaction summary — it looks instead like an artifact of closing software built around a standard mortgage template, left unedited for an all-cash sale. We're noting it here so readers can weigh it themselves.

What the Board Minutes Show

MVRCS's Board of Trustees discussed 40 Faulkner Street at its Annual Meeting on December 8, 2025, held at 4 Laurel Street. In open session, Business and Operations Director Mr. Veilleux updated the Board on the 31 Granite Street gym project and a long-term property strategy plan then in development — and noted that an offer on the since-purchased 15 Joseph Street property, "substantially over the recent purchase price," had been refused.

The Faulkner Street purchase itself was taken up in executive session. According to the minutes, Mr. Veilleux described the history of negotiations with the seller and reported that $2.5 million had been agreed to in principle. The Board discussed uses and renovation of the building, the value of the location as a property contiguous with existing MVRCS holdings, its "relatively attractive price," and financing options. Trustee Ken Antonucci, present for open session, recused himself from the real estate discussion to avoid a possible conflict of interest. By roll call vote — Banghart, Goreham, Lam, and Warren, all in favor — the Board then voted unanimously to authorize Board President George Warren and Treasurer Mary Goreham to purchase 40 Faulkner Street for $2.5 million. The minutes are redacted immediately after that vote; what remains visible ends with the Board's adjournment at 8:34 p.m., signed by Acting Secretary and General Counsel Matthew Campbell.

Where This Fits

This closes out the financing question we flagged on July 27: MVRCS's own closing records support its statement that the Faulkner Street purchase was an all-cash transaction, with no lender, no loan, and no grant or federal funding involved.² It does not change the underlying tax-impact question raised in that piece — once reclassified, 38-40 Faulkner Street moves off Malden's taxable rolls, the same as the fourteen other privately-purchased parcels already in our model. How the School paid for the building doesn't change what the building was worth to the City's tax base the day before the sale closed.

As always, corrections and additional documentation are welcome — our aim is to let the records speak for themselves, and to fix anything we get wrong.