Residential units eyed at former Mobil station | Local News | newburyportnews.com - The Daily News of Newburyport

NEWBURYPORT — A submitted plan to build four residential units at the former State Street Mobil station could be headed for City Council approval early next year. But at least one neighbor would like to see the plan modified.

Global Companies LLC bought the property at the corner of State and High streets for $5.1 million in 2010 but eventually closed the 49-year-old gas station in May 2018. Roughly 400 people signed an online petition calling for the demolition and removal of the gas station and its underground tanks in 2021. Later, Global entered into an agreement with the city, committing it to remove snow on the property and redevelop the site for residential use only.

After the tanks were removed and the site cleaned up, the property was put on the market for $1.2 million in February 2022. Although Global found a prospective buyer later that year, the deal fell through soon after.

Many months later, Amesbury resident and former Latitude Sports Club franchise owner John Grossi entered into a purchase-and-sales agreement with Global for an undisclosed amount and eventually submitted plans to build a residential development.

Grossi’s proposal calls for three homes inside a three-story structure and a fourth unit in a separate carriage-style building. The exterior design would be suggestive of the Victorian-era architectural style, similar in style to the abutting property of at 93 High St.

But Grossi’s proposal will require rezoning from the city and the issue came up during Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Planning Board and the City Council’s Planning and Development subcommittee.

Rather than having the Zoning Board of Appeals approve a number of variances, Planning Director Andy Port said it makes more sense to zone the corner of High and State streets, Residential 3, which allows multifamily dwellings and is the same zoning as the other three corners of the intersection.

The matter was kept in committee Wednesday night but it could reach the City Council in January. Once a plan gets through the City Council, Grossi could then close the purchase and sales agreement with Global and go before the Zoning Board of Appeals for a permit.

“Hopefully we will see the gas station and the signage coming down by next spring or summer,” Port said. “This would be very comparable with the character of the neighborhood and a plan was developed, largely to address neighbors concerns before it was brought forward. So I think we’re on a good path to the change that has been desired for some time, which is to get rid of the gas station entirely and have it essentially be residential use, just like the rest of High Street.”

Port added the city isn’t interested in seeing a commercial use on the property which would add further traffic to the area.

“We have a really good outcome here which is a one-driveway curb cut on State Street, very far away from the intersection,” he said.

At-Large Councilor Afroz Khan took part in Wednesday’s meeting and said she she believes rezoning the corner of High and State streets is a good solution that makes multifamily housing more manageable and aesthetically pleasing.

“This is a good project and an example of how multifamily can be reimaged for our community,” she said. “Zoning it Residential 3 gives us more options for people.”

Port said he has had a meeting and a follow-up discussion with the property’s abutters and the architect has made changes to address their concerns.

“We want to make sure this project is brought into alignment with their concerns as best as possible,” he said. “Obviously, the fact that this was brought forward as a zoning change, with the development agreement is an indication that a fair amount of work has been done to try to put together something that was appropriate to both the abutters and the neighborhood, in general.”

But not everyone is happy with Grossi’s plan.

High Street resident Novak Niektic, who lives next door with his wife, Stephanie Niektic, said he has a number of concerns about the project, including the building’s height, its retaining wall and fencing. Stephanie Niketic ran against Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue in the recent City Council election and came up 12 votes short. A recount is scheduled for Tuesday.

“This is a major engineering challenge in my opinion and we don’t have anything to make sure this doesn’t grow out of proportion,” he said. “The height right now is 35 feet. But that doesn’t take into account that it may be elevated 6 or 7 more feet with grading. So it becomes 42 feet. That is major concern for me that has not been addressed.”

Having a potentially 42-foot-tall abutter would be similar to going to a movie and having someone sit in front of him wearing a large hat, just as the show started, Novak Niketic said.

“They are talking about building a house 30 feet in front of our front line,” he said.

Grossi said in an email he and his team are very excited to potentially be able to improve the property.

“We have worked very hard over more than five months to address all of the neighbors concerns and have gone through 10 different designs,” he said. “We also have been working with city staff, the mayor’s office and city councilors. We are hopeful the city sees the value in our proposal and rezoning this property.”

Grossi opened his first Latitude Sports Club in 2005 and the chain would eventually grow to include locations in Salisbury, Methuen, Peabody and Bradford. He sold the franchise to Boston Sports Clubs for what he called “a multimillion-dollar deal” in late 2019.

He then became the managing member of Rowley Group LLC, which proposed building a horse-racing track on a 284-acre plot in Rowley but that came to a halt in 2020 after Grossi decided the town did not want the project.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.

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2023-11-17 10:00:00Z
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