November
1,
2007
By Robin Kaminski/The Daily Item
The Mayo Group’s request to
expand and rearrange the layout of its loft-style residences
at the MV24 building on Mount Vernon Street is inching
closer to taking place.
Following a request by the City Council to repair existing
residences owned by the Mayo Group at 7 Central Square
and 50-56 Central Square before the expansion at MV24,
the company said work is almost complete and they are waiting
to begin the expansion.
Edward O’Donnell, vice president
of the Mayo Group said the company is currently in the
process of serving a 30-day appeal period, tentatively
scheduled to end on Nov. 19.
The appeal stems back to a City Council
meeting on Oct. 9, when the Mayo Group’s proposal
to increase the number of units in the building from
32 to 49, was tabled by the Council for two weeks to
allow for repairs to be made at the other residences.
According to O’Donnell, the
Council then approved the added number of units after
the two-week period. The project is estimated to cost
approximately $8.5 million with the planned renovations.
“The city won’t issue a permit until the appeal
runs its course,” he said. “We’re certainly
willing to go back and report to the City Council on the
improvements made, but we have had an ongoing dialogue
between residents and city officials.”
Kevin Sampson, a resident of 7 Central, one of the residences
allegedly in need of repairs by the Mayo Group, previously
said that a structural report of the building revealed
a variety of issues that caught his attention.
Unsecured doors, ailing support beams and cabinets falling
off of walls were a few of the items mentioned.
Since the meeting, Sampson said work
has been done to his building, however he wasn’t
informed as to what exactly was accomplished.
“There were people working in the building within
a couple of days after the meeting, but there hasn’t
been any communication since then,” he said. “I
think they fixed the brickwork and cleared a few passageways
that were a fire hazard.”
O’Donnell, however, confirmed
that repairs to the intercom system, door locks, electrical
and plumbing work had been done to the satisfaction of
residents in the building.
A structural report of the building
is expected to arrive by next week, which O’Donnell said would show that
the “proof is in the pudding.”
“The building is old and was not originally designed
for residential use, so we retrofitted it to make it an
affordable and reasonable project,” he said. “But
overall, we’ve made substantial progress over the
past three weeks and the work remains ongoing.”
Once the appeal period is complete,
O’Donnell said
the company would file plans with Inspectional Services
Department (ISD) after the appeal period and obtain the
permit to expand shortly after.
O’Donnell said active construction
is still taking place at the new building and that a
contractor is still working there.
“Are we banging down walls in the building yet?
No, we aren’t,” he said. “But, admittedly,
we have measured for the re-configuration and we’ll
almost immediately be in there on or after the appeal period
ends.”
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