Report gives three scenarios for Allen St. electric building


The Braintree Electric Lighting Department building on Allen Street is the subject of three proposals in a new report
by the Community Design Resource Center of Boston. (Community Design Resource Center)

By Jessica Bartlett
Town Correspondent / December 5, 2010

A year of public discussions has resulted in three main options for transforming the old Braintree Electric Lighting Department
building on Allen Street.

“It’s a picture of potential,” said Christine Stickney, director for the Department of Planning and Community Development, about
a recent report by the Community Design Resource Center (CDRC) of Boston.

The three scenarios — an arts and culture center, a conference and wellness center, and an active adult housing community — give a visual image to what has only been theoretical.

The proposals, spelled out in pages and pages of potential designs, are the product of a year-long public process that involved three community meetings, countless discussions about the dilapidated site, and varied visions of what the historic building could become.

One thing is for sure, with a 1.6-acre parcel of waterfront property near a T stop, it’s a valued location, and the community is eager to make headway on it.

“Participants . . . recognized that progress on the site’s redevelopment had been stymied by hesitancy to embrace a new vision and that the waterfront property — located at a crucial gateway to the town — needed to move forward from ‘eyesore’ to genuine community asset,” the report stated.

For Mayor Joe Sullivan, regardless of which option the town goes with, the priority is keeping public access to the waterfront.

“Should we look at the artists lofts or some type of senior housing that’s a private redevelopment. But we need to ensure that there will be public access always along the waterfront,’’ he said.

“We’ve also had preliminary discussions with the yacht club, and how can we . . . bring the yacht club to the other side of the bridge. We’re doing some dredging . . . and I think the yacht club is an important neighbor of the property,’’ Sullivan said.

Still, moving forward with the project may prove problematic, Stickney said.

“There are a lot of people involved in this. The mayor is spearheading it, but we have to work with the council, the permitting board. [And] if one scenario is chosen over another, seeing what funding programs that we could develop that would be of interest to the private sector,’’ who would have to have a role in funding it, Stickney said.

In fact, funding continues to be a stumbling block.

Although the potential is there to use Community Preservation Committee funds for some part of the project, the cost for each proposal, as well as how those costs might be mitigated, have not been determined.

“There will have to be a decision made and we’ll have to come up with funding. It will be a private-public relationship — as the land is owned by the town — and we aren’t sure how we’ll structure that,” Stickney said.

The problem, Stickney said, is that before the town can figure out how to fund these initiatives, it must first decide which one to take.

“I’m constantly looking to the state programs and funding as well as federal, to see if it fits in the niche of any grant program. I’m constantly checking those things out. It’s difficult without knowing which of the three scenarios will be the choice, there are always nonprofits, but it’s important to know what direction we’re headed in, and this report was the first step in putting a picture to the site,” she said.

Regardless of the end product, the new space is expected to complement the Braintree/Weymouth landing development down the street.

“Allen Street has kind of been sitting there, and you can’t help looking at it with the landing. . . . It will be a complement to the landing,” Stickney said.

Sullivan agreed, saying the two entities required separate focuses, though they will greatly impact each other.

“We’ve been able to have concurrent discussions, but they’re separate parcels,’’ he said. “Through discussions with the neighborhood, and understanding that Allen Street needed more time, [we wanted it] to have its own set of public forums.’’

CDRC also examined the possibility of a riverwalk along the Monatiquot River that would connect the Braintree Electric property to destinations along the riverfront.

Further studies on the site and its stability will have to be completed. Braintree Electric is also in the process of conducting a structural analysis of the building before transferring the property to the town of Braintree.

“I expect it will be completed by the end of the year. Assuming it goes well, the town should take over total care, custody, and concern of the property as we go into 2011,’’ Sullivan said.

Although many more things need to happen to make it a reality, Sullivan stressed the community effort the project has already received and the momentum it seems to have.

“There’s a sense, I believe, that we may actually get something done with this property. It’s sat dormant for 14 years, I believe. And with the . . . re-awakening of that side of town, I think the Allen Street redevelopment is a special’’ project.

Read original at boston.com

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