Thomas Breen photo
Developer Arsalan Altaf presents the proposed plan to neighbors.
Another vehicle-rental service plans to come to Wooster Square.
During Tuesday night’s regular monthly meeting of the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team (DWSCMT) on the second floor of City Hall, developer Arsalan Altaf presented his plans to build a new Avis Car Rental office and garage at a former gas station at 170 Olive St. near Grove Street.
Arsalan Altaf rendering
The proposed new Avis Car Rental service on Olive Street.
Altaf and Avis representative Ross Warne told the neighbors that they hope to get all necessary city approvals for the project by the end of October. They said they plan to have the car rental service constructed and open for business by Jan. 1.
Local attorney Carolyn Kone, who is representing the developers, said Avis has submitted to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) an application for a special exception for the project. That application will be heard during the BZA’s next meeting on Sep. 13.
The reason for the special exception, she said, is a quirk in current zoning law.
She said the proposed new Avis will be in a BA general business zone, which allows for car and truck rentals as of right. However, she said, current zoning law requires a developer to get a special exception if any of the cars are to be stored inside of a building, as opposed to on an outdoor lot.
“I do not understand why,” Kone said. “But that is the situation.”
“It should be the opposite,” said Wooster Square neighbor Cordalie Benoit.
Unfurling a five-foot-wide rendering of the proposed new Avis with the help of his father, Altaf said the car rental service will house between 20 and 25 rental cars and three to five rental trucks. He said the office and rental station will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
He added that the new site will create four full-time jobs for sales managers and two part-time jobs for washing the rental cars.
Wooster Square neighbors listen in at Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Is there significant underground contamination?” neighbor Aaron Goode asked about the former gas station site.
“No,” Altaf said. “The site is clean.”
He said he plans on reducing the site’s number of curb cuts from five to two, and plans on taking down the three billboards that currently occupy the northern area of the site.
“It’s a much less intensive use than a gas station,” he said about the new rental service, “so it should be more friendly to the neighborhood.”
Altaf.
He said he plans on fixing up the current building’s façade and providing a landscape barrier between the building and the street. He said he is open to suggestions from neighbors as to what type of plants should go into that landscape barrier.
Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg asked how many rentals Altaf and Warne expect per day at the new location.
170 Olive St. today.
Warne said that this new site will be replacing a previous Avis location on George Street, which closed about a year ago. He said based on the rental numbers from that location, he expects to see between 20 and 25 car rentals and between three to five truck rentals per day.
Earlier this year, U‑Haul moved into the old C. Cowles Company building at the other end of Wooster Square, where it is providing self-storage rentals as well as moving truck rentals.
I go by this site nearly every day - the proposal strikes me as a no-brainer. But the zoning ordinance needs to be reviewed and updated.