NEWBURYPORT — Luxury-style condominiums where a former Mobil gas station once operated at the corner of State and High streets was given the green light Tuesday after the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special permit to allow multifamily use.
“At long last, the gas station will be gone,” Planning Director Andy Port said Friday. “We’ll have something that seems like it belongs there. It will better frame the intersection and all four corners will look like they sort of go together.”
Amesbury resident and former Latitude Sports Club franchise owner John Grossi said he plans to build three condominiums in a three-story structure suggestive of the Victorian era architectural style, not dissimilar to the abutting property of Stephanie and Novak Niketic.
A fourth home would be built in a separate carriage-style building.
Each unit, Grossi said Friday, will include an elevator and hopefully fetch more than $1 million.
“We’re trying to market these as homes for retirement, or even to people in their 50s and 60s,” he said. “So, everyone’s going to have their own elevator. It’s a really short distance to walk to get to the heart of downtown Newburyport. I might even move into the carriage house, myself.”
The special permit was approved unanimously by the ZBA, with Rob Ciampitti and Stephen DeLisle recusing themselves, according to Stephanie Niketic.
In 2010, Global Companies LLC bought the property at 95-97 High St. for $5.1 million. The company continued operating State Street Mobil there until shutting it down in May 2018.
Three years later, Global Companies entered into an agreement with the city, committing to redevelop the site for residential use only. The deal came after roughly 400 people signed an online petition calling for demolishing the station, as well as getting rid of its underground fuel tanks.
The tanks were removed and the site cleaned up before the property was put on the market for $1.2 million in February 2022. The building still remains.
Grossi entered into a purchase-and-sales agreement with Global for an undisclosed amount in 2023, roughly a year after an earlier deal fell through.
He submitted his building plans to the city under the company name, Clipper City Development, LLC.
The City Council also helped clear the way for the project in February when it approved rezoning the corner to Residential 3, which allows for multifamily use, as well as some commercial uses. The zoning change puts it in line with the other three corners of the intersection.
Port said he’s very happy to see the permitting process come to an end with the ZBA’s special permit approval.
“There’s always little details people will debate. But this is a good plan for that corner,” he said. “When it’s done, I feel like it will look like an organic piece of High Street.”
Niketic said she and her husband remain concerned about some elements of the plan. But she added she and some other abutters did get a concession from Grossi on Tuesday night for the lighting plan.
“There’s a lot going on here and it needs to be done right,” she said. “We want to make sure this is built to what the ZBA approved.”
Grossi, according to Port will still need to sit through a 20-day appeal period, before moving forward.
“That’s pretty standard,” he said. “It should start probably Monday or Tuesday. Then they can pull their building permits and do construction.”
Grossi said he’d like to get the demolition underway soon after the appeal period is over.
“We want to get rid of that whole building and the signs,” he said. “Whatever we have to do.”
Grossi added he’s not completely sure who will build the project, just yet. Although the project has been approved for four units, Grossi said he might build less.
“There may be three,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Grossi praised the work of local architectural firm Scott M. Brown, Architects, which designed the home, as well as his legal representation, Mead, Talerman & Costa.
“This is a very visible site, and everybody wants it done right, including the neighbors,” he said.
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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2024-07-15 08:53:00Z
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