New Apartment Building Proposed for Broadway Home, Office

By Seth Daniel

An Everett developer is proposing a new, modern apartment building in what has historically been a large Victorian home and doctor’s office.

The proposal comes from Everett-based developer Greg Antonelli, who has been developing innovative properties on the west side of the City for some time – currently working on micro-units in an old industrial building on Tremont Street that abuts the Northern Strand Community Path.

The Broadway proposal is at 605 Broadway, and the large home is the former office of Dr. Al Mavilio and  currently underutilized.

The proposal will get its first public airing at the Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday, Aug. 7, at City Hall.

Antonelli proposes to demolish the old home and construct a new four-story building on the property with a retail component on the first floor facing Broadway. In preliminary drawings, the retail component features outdoor seating for what could be a coffee shop or bistro. It looks to be a possible shot in the arm to an area of Broadway that has had few changes in many years.

The back of the property includes green space and a back patio for residents, though such space is not required.

The 21 units include 13 one-bedroom units and eight two-bedroom units, and the density is something that will require relief from the ZBA as the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is in excess of what is allowed under zoning (1.5 is the maximum allowed and the project is at 2.58).

One potential uphill battle will be the fact that there is no parking for the units, and 46 spaces are required.

This will be the second project coming in this summer proposing a new apartment building with no parking provided – something that looks to likely be a trend along Broadway and other business districts as the bus-only lane continues to evolve along Broadway and provide faster trips to Boston.

Last month, the ZBA was extremely hesitant to consider a project at Glendale Square that would have replaced a rooming house with a new micro-unit apartment building – but one that had only two parking spaces.

That proposal was tabled to work on the parking situation, but there was a strong case made beforehand regarding how trends are changing with car ownership – and such trends are coming to Everett.

The ZBA wasn’t so sure just yet though, and will likely take a careful look at the 605 Broadway proposal through the same lens.

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