South Boston residents heard details Tuesday night about a plan to convert the South Boston Tribune building -- prime West Broadway real estate that has sat vacant for more than a year -- into rental apartments and retail space.
The plan would involve restoring the fa?ade of the building, adding three floors on to the existing two stories, and expanding the footprint by at least 20 feet toward the edge of the property line on Silver Street. The developer, Colm Dunphy, also proposed a 20-spot parking garage for the 24 rental units.
There would be eight one-bedroom units, 16 two-bedrooms. Three of the apartments would be affordable housing units. The first floor would include two retail spaces.
"We want to keep the streetscape lively, and have active retail on the first floor," said Mike Foley, a representative from Jack Conway & Co. who is on the project's development team. "We also think it's important for the West Broadway section to bring in residential occupancy. It enhances the retail energy on that street. It will help local businesses."
Residents who attended the meeting at the South Boston Lithuanian Club seemed receptive overall to the proposal, but they did raise some concerns.
They worried about the impact of the height increase, which would make the building 6 feet taller than its neighbors. (Foley assured them that it would blend with the neighborhood nicely, since the CVS up the street is the same height.)
They also questioned whether the 20 parking spots would be enough, and how they would be doled out to tenants. Ann Ambrose, a Silver Street resident, wondered whether the garage would affect traffic on her street, which she said is already a problem because people turn the wrong way out of the health center's parking lot.
Another resident wondered whether a planned roof deck would be a perfect spot for revelers to launch beer bottles on Saint Patrick's Day.
Jack Keefe, an F Street resident, urged Dunphy to be choosy when renting the retail space.
"You're not going to have a nail place or a pizza place or a dollar store or any of that stuff are you?" Keefe asked. "We don't need another hair salon or package store, either."
Dunphy, who offered residents donuts, coffee, and cookies before presenting his plan, said he would be "selective" about who moved in. He added that he would not allow a restaurant to move in, because he worried about the smell for residents.
Ambrose vouched for Dunphy as a building manager, since she lives near his other apartments in the area, and said he was considerate about trash disposal. Dunphy also vowed to give extra parking spots from his nearby apartments to tenants in the Tribune building if he ran out of spots in the garage.
"This building isn't going to be a cornerstone building, but it's going to be very important to the community," Keefe said. "West Broadway used to be a nice community. We've been working and trying to bring it back. To fight developers who want to do the right thing on West Broadway. ... I don't think we want to do that."
