Canton braces for busy spring construction season

It has been a relatively light past few months on the local development front, with one notable exception occurring at the Plymouth Rubber redevelopment site where work continues in earnest through this relatively mild New England winter. Looking ahead to the spring, however, Canton residents can expect to see a significant uptick in construction activity with several other large developments expected to break ground in the coming months.

New hotels coming to Rte. 138 corridor

After going more than a century without a hotel prior to the opening of Homewood Suites in 2011, the town of Canton is poised to more than triple its total hotel room inventory with two additional lodging options currently in the development pipeline.

One of the new hotels, a 138-room Hilton Garden Inn that will be located just down the road from the Homewood Suites on Royall Street, has already secured key approvals from the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and is “definitely on track,” according to local zoning attorney Paul Schneiders.

Proposed by the Boston Mutual Life Insurance Co. on a three-acre parcel adjacent to its headquarters, the hotel will be run by an independent operator, although a subsidiary of Boston Mutual will retain ownership of the land. In addition to the 138 rooms, the hotel will feature a full-service, “upscale” restaurant as well as a fully automated board room and additional conference room space.

Howard Neff, senior vice president for Boston Mutual, said the project is going forward as planned and is working its way through the permitting process. “We expect to begin [construction] right around the beginning of this summer,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the other end of Route 138 heading toward the Stoughton town line, plans are in the works to build a 100-room Best Western hotel on a 4.5 acre site behind Prestige Car Wash & Gas. Although not as far along as the other hotel proposal, the applicant, Titanium Group LLC, already has a firm agreement in place from Best Western Hotels and Resorts and has submitted a full set of site plans to the Planning Board for review.

Plans call for the construction of a four-story, 20,000-square-foot hotel, as well as a car dealership with associated repair garage and collision center on the southerly side of the property. The applicant is seeking zoning relief for the hotel for total lot size and building height and will next appear before the ZBA one week from today on Thursday, February 9.

Condos a go at Connors Wayside

Partway between the two new hotel proposals on Route 138, a new condominium development is starting to take shape at the Connors Wayside Furniture building after some longer than expected delays.

Originally approved by the zoning board in December 2014 with widespread support from the neighborhood, the project ran into some financing complications — in part due to a change in ownership — but is reportedly back on track and ready to move forward under Canton builder James Lamarr of Lamarr Development Group.

“We are just finalizing the financing part of it now that the approvals are done and the changes are done that the bank wanted to see, and we’re hoping to get ready in the spring,” Lamarr said last week.

The latest plans call for the construction of 28 condominium units, including 26 units in the converted Connors furniture building and two units on an adjacent lot where a single family residence previously stood. Lamarr had initially planned to rebuild the single family and use it as an office/residence for the condo development’s property manager; however, due to the complex parking arrangement that was required, he thought it would be best to build a townhome duplex instead and incorporate it into the development — and the ZBA concurred, approving a minor modification to the site plan this past September.

Lamarr also reaffirmed his previously stated commitment to donate one of the 28 condominium units to a nonprofit veterans group for free use by a disabled veteran, with preference given to a resident of Canton. As the founder of two local nonprofit groups, We Salute You Veterans and Project Outreach, Lamarr is passionate about giving back to veterans in need and described the donation of the housing unit as a “cornerstone of the whole project.”

In addition to the veterans unit, two other units will be set as affordable, and all three of these units will be handicap-accessible.

The other stated goal of the project is to celebrate the historic significance of the Connors building, which is considered a landmark in the Ponkapoag neighborhood and has been in continuous commercial use since the turn of the 20th century. The project, according to the developer, will highlight the charm of the original storefront while promoting a use that is more in line with the existing residential zoning and “less detrimental” to the neighborhood.

Washington Street projects face unexpected delays

Moving from the Route 138 corridor to the center of Canton, questions continue to swirl around two major projects on Washington Street that lie within a stone’s throw of town hall.

One such project, a mixed-use/condo conversion at the former Emerson and Cuming factory site, remains in limbo more than a year after it was greenlighted by the zoning board. Meanwhile, the second project, a new gas station and convenience store at the site of the shuttered Shell station near the commuter rail tracks, appears to be closer to a resolution but has still yet to secure the necessary site plan approvals and zoning relief.

The developer of the gas station, Rhode Island-based Colbea Enterprises, is slated to return to the ZBA on February 9 and is eager to move forward with the project. Current plans call for the existing building and fueling islands to be razed and replaced with a “state of the art” service station and a Seasons Corner Market, which would be “co-branded” with a business such as Marylou’s or Dunkin Donuts. The owner would also install new underground storage tanks and upgrade the existing stormwater management system.

The applicant has received a favorable recommendation from the Planning Board and has also reached common ground with the Design Review Board and the abutting property owners. However, the zoning board, which has final say over the site plan, expressed some concerns at their last hearing over the design of the building itself and appointed ZBA member Gary Vinciguerra, a licensed architect, to work with the developer to hash out their differences.

Greg Pando, himself a licensed architect and the chairman on the case, had some pointed criticisms about the design at the hearing in September. However, he stressed that he was simply looking out for the best interests of the town and wanted to ensure that the building was consistent with the character of that part of the downtown, which he characterized as “one of the nicest areas of Canton … in terms of architect and design and buildings.”

As for the Emerson and Cuming building, located at 869 Washington Street, it is still not clear what the developer plans to do, although Schneiders, the attorney for the project, said his clients “really would like to get underway.”

The project that was approved included plans for 58 condos and 8,000 square feet of commercial space at the historic factory site. The design included a clock tower and a “green” roof with vegetative cover, as well as a new public park at the front of the property.

At the January 12 ZBA meeting, Schneiders requested and received approval for a one-year extension on the site plan, citing “financial drainage” and other internal problems that have prevented his client from starting the project. He added that an easement dispute with an abutting property owner still needs to be resolved, but he expressed optimism that all issues could be addressed and said his client is eager to “get this project underway.”

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Feb 5 2017. Filed under Uncategorized. Both comments and pings are currently closed.