Mayor Carlo DeMaria said he is ready to move on the Everett Square Urban Renewal Plan – and those who are moving with him may be forced to come along for the ride.
The mayor told the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that he is ready to move on the Square, preparing to put an RFP out very soon.
“The Urban Renewal plan will go out to the City Council very soon,” he said. “I look at the Bouvier Building and its blighted. We’re going to have some serious urban renewal in the City of Everett. It will make some happy and some not happy.
“I’d like to see restaurants there, and I have boutique hotel people calling me now,” he added.
The Urban Renewal Plan for Everett Square focuses on City and private buildings and resources for the Square. Already, the City has gone through design for activation of the Square with the goal to make it a destination place with new businesses and help for remaking existing businesses.
DeMaria said he plans to be very aggressive with the urban renewal of the square, and won’t be afraid to initiate land takings. “If I have one or two people holding me up because they want more money and it’s been blighted for years, I’m going to take it,” he said. “We want to do this in the next 18 months.”