Hendries Redesign Plan
Receives Mixed Reviews
By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
8/4/11
(continued)
A proposal to redevelop the former Hendries Ice Cream factory on Eliot Street is garnering mixed reviews from the Planning Board.

Last week, developer Steve Connelly and project architect Warren Daniel came before the board to present an alternate design for the 31-unit mixed housing and retail building they plan to build at 131 Eliot St.

The redesign resulted from concerns voiced by the board that the project was too large and out of scale for the site.

During the July 28 hearing, Daniel explained that the new design sets the building back farther into the site. The structure would now be located 12 feet from the Central Avenue sidewalks and 10 feet from the MBTA trolley tracks on the opposite side, he said.

“We pushed it back as much as we possibly could, while still keeping the parking in back that we need for the development,” Daniel said.

Planning Board member Ed Duffy called the new design a “vast improvement” over what was first proposed.

“I think this design…is really quite attractive,” member Alex Whiteside said. “I think you’re making progress.”

Whiteside said he’d still like to see details such as landscaping and circulation through the site.

Daniel said he could follow up with detailed site analysis, including elevations and three-dimensional renderings to give the development context.

Planning Board member Peter Jackson was not impressed with the new design. He said it hasn’t answered his concern that the building is too close to the sidewalk and overwhelms the site. Jackson had previously suggested placing a landscaped garden in front of the building to create a welcoming entrance.

“I expected a significant redesign. I see the same building moved a few feet,” he said. “I, for one, don’t see this as an improvement.”

Referring to the Hendries property as the “lynchpin” of the Central Avenue business district, Jackson said the development should be a “special place.”

“I don’t see any sign of vision for this site,” he said.

As a way of further setting the building back from the street, Jackson suggested moving some of the proposed 36 parking spaces behind the building to an underground lot.

“I don’t buy the fact that that area has to be reserved for parking. More parking could be included within the building,” he said.

While she expressed concern about some of the materials proposed for the exterior of the building, Central Avenue resident Margaret Donovan called the new design “a good first step.”

Jim McCabe, who lives across the street from the Hendries property at 136 Eliot St., voiced concern about disruption from headlights as cars pull in and out of the driveway.

Planning Board Chair Emily Innes said the two driveways don’t exactly line up, but said the issue can be explored and possibly mitigated by use of landscaped buffers.