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What?s in a name?
Residents get input on paper mill identity
Justin A. Rice 24.APR.08
A diagram shows the scale of a proposed retail center planned for the site of the former Bay State Paper Mill. As part of a review process, local residents have had the opportunity to weigh in on the project.
Towards the end of a public meeting hosted by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) at the District E-18 community meeting room last Thursday evening, Todd Finard flipped over a poster board with potential names for 892 River Street retail project:
? The River Street Shops
? Tileston Shops
? The Shops at Riverwood
"I don?t want to get ahead of myself but when we go to the BRA we?ve been referring to this as, ?The property being developed at 892 River St.,?" said the owner of Burlington-based Finard Properties, which will be located at the former Bay State Paper Mill at River Street and Wood Avenue.
The 105,000 square foot retail space - including room for two to three big box stores such as Staples, Kohls or Designer Shoe Warehouse - will take a year to build after construction starts, at the earliest, this fall.
"This project needs a name."
"Is there a prize?" Hyde Park resident Phyllis Fitch asked.
"There can be."
The meeting was the second Article 80 meeting convened to update neighbors about changes developers made to the plans following the end of the public comment period, which started after the first Article 80 meeting in February.
But revealing potential names for the project was not the only news Finard got ahead of himself on. Several requests by neighbors during the public comment period included asking for a community meeting room to be build in the shopping plaza. Finard announced that he?s recently been in talks with Linda Silvestri of the Hyde Park YMCA about the possibility of renting a community room on the premise to the Y for $1.
"To be frank, I don?t want to be responsible for managing the comings and goings [of the community room]," said Finard, who was recently named to the Board of Managers of the Hyde Park Y. "It would be a space someone else managed I think that might be our best bet and [the YMCA] would have some kind of satellite location."
However, Finard said that nothing is official because another group could, hypothetically, manage the community room if not the YMCA.
"The only thing we?re concerned about is having room for the community," Hyde Park resident Lydia Townsend said after the meeting. "That is our biggest concern. We really want that for community meetings. Overall, we?re glad it?s not additional housing. We?re happy it will be a good thing."
Besides comments about the community room, Finard said another the most significant comment they got was to split one of the largest buildings on the property (known as Building D) in half and creating a plaza in the middle with an outdoor coffee or sandwich shop, such as Starbucks.
"It will be a pleasant place to bring a book here," Finard said. "It was a pretty darn good suggestion and we like it."
In regards to traffic and congestion in the neighborhood, one controversial issue surrounding the shopping center is the secondary entranceway between Reddy and Wood Avenues. In response to resident complaints that drivers heading towards Logan and Cleary Square will attempt to turn left into the plaza, developers will construct a kidney shaped barrier dividing the right-turn entrance and right-turn exit. But residents still aren?t convinced that it will prevent people from turning left into and out of the plaza.
"We?re going to try to manage as much traffic in and out as we can," said one of Finard?s associates, Sean Manning. "The curb is going to be raised and a car will screw up suspension if it tries to turn left. It?s going to be designed to be extremely difficult to make a left. That being said, there?s going to be some people who are going to try to do it."
Resident Edna Humphrey wasn?t convinced.
"No that will not prevent them from making that left turn," she said after the meeting. "We?re still concerned about the congestion, the traffic on Wood Ave. We?re still not satisfied with that."
BRA Project Manager Tia Lim said both the Boston Transportation Department and Department of Public Works have reviewed the traffic plan and signed off on it.
During the meeting another resident complained about members of the Haitian Church located at the former VFW Doyle Post parking on Finard?s property.
"It?s our property, they shouldn?t park there but the neighborly thing to do isn?t to put up a fence," Finard said. "They?re not going to be able to park there but there?s a right way and a wrong way to say that. We?re not going to do that."
The project will go beforethe BRA board for a vote on May 15 and Lim said, as of now, it doesn?t need to go in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals. On May 20, Finard will attend a retail trade show in Las Vegas and begin to court potential tenants for the property.
A Weston resident himself, Finard is looking to bring a touch of suburbia to Hyde Park by filling the plaza with a free-standing pharmacy, an office supply store such as Staples and a shoe store or sporting goods store such as Modell?s, City Sports or Designer Shoe Warehouse.
"There will be a little bit of everything," Finard said.
The demolition process will begin in June and take about 90 to 120 days. While neighbors are convinced that demolishing some of the existing structures will unleash a bevy of rodents, Finard and his colleagues seemed poised to deal with it. If all goes to plan, construction will begin in September or October.
"It will take one year to build," Finard said. "In the fall I hope to have a ribbon cutting ceremony."
While before the meeting began Finard said neighbors could vote for the name of the project at nametheproject@finardproperties.com, there seems to be an early favorite.
"We got that!" Humphrey said after Finard flipped his poster board and revealed that he?s partial to The Shops at Riverwood. "Sounds sophisticated. I like that, The Shops at Riverwood."
"Can we take a vote? Maybe we can decide it right now?" Finard asked before The Shops and Riverwood won unanimously.
"There we go, we got it," Humphrey said. "We have a name."
"Now we have to come up with a new contest of some sort," Finard said.
- The Bulletin Newspapers
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