Thomas Breen photo
A seven-year plan to convert an empty Elm Street bridal shop into seven stories’ worth of new apartments took another step forward after the building’s new owners won a key city approval.
That vote of support took place during the latest regular monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission earlier this month.
An affiliate company of the New York-based Hakimian Organization, which officially purchased the long-vacant Harold’s Bridal Shop property at 19 Elm St. for $4.85 million back in August, got a unanimous vote of support to demolish the vacant storefront and construct 96 apartments with 24 on-site parking spots in its place.
The again-approved plan sticks closely to a 2020 site plan proposal that the building’s previous owner, an affiliate of MOD Equities, won from the City Plan Commission to construct a seven-story, 96-unit apartment building at that site.
The modified development plan that was approved at this latest City Plan Commission meeting on Nov. 2 reconfigures the previously approved parking arrangements to decrease the number of on-site spots while assuring off-site parking alternatives.
More specifically, the applicants, with the help of representation from local attorney Ben Trachten, received a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals over the summer to reduce parking at the rear of the apartment building from 35 to 24 spaces with the understanding that tenants could rent parking spots at two adjacent publicly owned parking locations, 270 State St. as well as the State/Wall lot. Those two spots should provide an estimated 42 available spaces. Read more about that here.
On Nov. 2, the City Plan Commission reviewed how that special exception would alter the developer’s general site plan for the proposed new 96-unit building.
Below-level floor plan.
Ground-level floor plan.
“It’s a small amount of rearranging of the parking, but nothing too dramatic,” Trachten told the local land-use commissioners on Nov. 2.
The site plan changes mean that instead of locating 35 spaces in an underground lot, the developers will place 24 parking spaces on a pillared, open first-floor lot to the rear of an Elm Street-facing retail space, lobby and gym, among other amenities. Cars will enter on Elm through the site’s western driveway and exit on State Street. Bollards will be placed strategically to protect extant electrical outlets.
The office space originally planned for the first floor is now slated to be located in the basement, alongside bicycle parking.
The modified now-approved site plan also adds an independent doorway to the building’s retail center facing Elm in addition to separate entries to the building’s residential areas.
The approved plan features 96 market-rate apartments (the application predated the city’s affordability-focused inclusionary zoning law), which would include six four-bedroom apartments, 18 three-bedrooms, 30 two-bedrooms, 30 one-bedrooms, and 12 studios.
The Nov. 2 vote marks (perhaps) the final needed city vote for a project that’s been in the works for years.
In 2015, the former owners, Jacob and Josef Feldman of MOD Equities, pitched a Harold’s apartment conversion plan to downtown neighbors at a meeting of the Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team.
In 2017, they won site plan approval from the City Plan Commission for a plan to build a 46-unit apartment building at the vacant former commercial site.
In April 2020, they came back to the City Plan Commission to get a new approval for a larger, 96-unit apartment building at that same site.
And in September of this year, the new owners, the Hakimian Organization, won a special exception from the city Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to permit 24 off-street parking spaces where 48 are required, 0 off-street loading spaces where 1 is required, and a walking distance to off-street parking spaces located on a separate lot of 1,499 feet where 1,000 feet is required.
Basketball Hoop? Alley-Oop!
All four City Plan commissioners supported the modified site plan on Nov. 2.
“Most of the construction downtown all looks the same and I find it to be aesthetically boring,” Commissioner Carl Goldfield said. He, in comparison, complimented the proposed design for 19 Elm St., which features a glass, first-floor facade and arched windows. “Your building is quite good looking!”
Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand, meanwhile, suggested adding a couple of charging stations for tenants with electric cars. And Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe questioned the safety of the parking area.
Commissioner Van Hoesen, seeing the label “basketball court” on the ground-level floor plan, asked whether the developers really intended to build a full court.
Representatives reiterated that the parking lot would be open and visible from the street, rather than enclosed as previously planned, and, as Trachten put it, “there will certainly be building staff that keeps an eye on the lobby to maintain safety.”
It was clarified that a single basketball hoop would be made available off the gym — not an entire court.
Ultimately, all voted in favor of moving the project forward. “Don’t be surprised if you see Mr. Van Hoesen there practicing his jump shot!” Radcliffe warned.
Yay to- “six four-bedroom apartments, 18 three-bedrooms, 30 two-bedrooms, 30 one-bedrooms, and 12 studios.”
We need more multi bedroom apartments so people can live with roommates or their families.
And the parking spaces should have electric charging stations for vehicles. The future of transportation is electric. The on site parking needs to have reserved spaces for people with disabilities.