Peter Merrigan

Peter Merrigan was a smart and ambitious graduate of the MIT real estate program who had been negotiating to buy the mall, with an eye toward creating a big-box strip mall. Taurus New England was a highly successful firm that acquired failed real estate projects, repackaged them, and made enormous profits. Merrigan joined Taurus and persuaded his new colleagues to buy the mall. In October, 1988, they did so for $18.8 million, financed with an $18.5 million one-year note.

• Architecture