November
22,
2007
By Robin Kaminski/The Daily Item
Two long defunct commercial sites
in the city's business district could soon be given new
life, according to Executive Director of the Economic
Development & Industrial Corporation
(EDIC) James Cowdell.
The Athanas family, owners of the former Anthony's Hawthorne
at 95 Oxford St., has expressed interest in purchasing
the former Whyte's Laundry site located next to the main
post office for use in a proposed project.
Cowdell said the Athanas family has been in discussion
with the city to transform the old restaurant into a four
or five story building that would contain parking underground,
commercial space on the first floor and residential units
on the remaining floors.
In addition, the family has expressed interest in purchasing
the former Whyte's site to create a parking lot, which
would be made available to customers shopping at the proposed
commercial spaces.
"The Athanas family has hired the Boston architectural
firm Steffian Bradley for the design and preliminary studies
to see if the project is feasible and they've spent some
serious money," he said. "We've come so far from
the family not speaking to us, to working on the first
steps, so we've got our fingers crossed."
Before anything is built on the site, Cowdell said contaminants
from the former laundry must be removed.
*
"We are working with the Attorney General's office
to come up with a not-to-sue covenant to get the owner
off the hook," he said. "Once we do that, we
would have the owner transfer the land to the city and
then we can clean it up with a Brownfield's grant."
Cowdell said the city would then pave the site and sell
it to the Athanas family.
"It's a pretty good sized lot," he said. "The
spot has been vacant for years, so we're focusing on it
right now to get things moving, because we don't want to
wait several more years," he said.
The Whyte's site has remained a large eyesore since former
owner Russell Goldsmith tore down the building in 2000
to make way for a proposed expansion to the post office,
and the Hawthorne site has remained empty for nearly five
years.
The plan came to a screeching halt in 2001 when the Post
Office froze construction plans nationwide. The ban lifted
in 2003, but efforts to acquire the property from Goldsmith
never materialized.
Prior to talks with the Athanas family, Cowdell said the
city pressured the family to make a decision on the property,
which they remained mum about until recently.
City officials discussed the possibility of eminent domain
in the event the family refused to negotiate, but Cowdell
previously said that all other avenues would be exhausted
prior.
Opened in 1937 by the late Anthony Athanas, the family
also owned four additional restaurants, including Hawthorne
by the Sea in Swampscott and General Glover House, also
in Swampscott, which closed 15 years ago and still remains
vacant.
The Athanas family was previously approached with two
formal offers to purchase the Hawthorne in May, but a delayed
response baffled the city.
|
