A second version of the 54 Loomis Street proposal was unveiled on Wednesday. David Cerundolo, the owner of the property explained that he had owned the existing building for close to 20 years. Until recently Pharmalucene (which has since moved to Billerica) had leased the building. Once Pharmalucene left, David begun to explore redeveloping the site.
This new version contains close to 3,000 square feet of retail (up from 1,000) on the ground floor along with 28 apartments (down from 30). According to the owner, the apartments would be 1 and 2 Bedrooms. As far as the building itself, the footprint is about 12,000 square feet (total square footage is around 36K - 12K per floor) which is pretty similar to the existing building.
Comment:
With the very high vacancy rate for office space in Bedford and surrounding areas (around 20%), it probably makes more financial sense to redevelop the property for retail and housing (Pharmalucene leaving left several buildings vacant on Loomis Street and DeAngelo Drive). The increased retail space would probably be enough for several small stores. With the traffic from the bike path and local area it would be interesting to have a small ice cream or coffee shop.
2 comments:
Who owns the other vacant buildings in this area. Perhaps a master plan to redevelop this location of town is a better idea. A beautiful downtown that could be put together in a cohesive plan. Not just a bandaid for each abandoned building. I believe burlington is doing this redeveloping an entire area not just a building. We can have a fabulous "downtown" retail dining and boutique type center. Many great ideas that our citizens can patron our own businesses in town and not go outside of bedford. In this economy school children will be living in the 2 bedrooms and our schools will suffer. Let's work together as a group of buildings and provide this Depot area a real thriving comeback. Challenge to make a mark for other future towns to rebuild. Now that's exciting. We have 3000 sq of retail space available the old cambridge savings bank. The verizon store etc etc
Hi Anonymous,
Interesting idea. The vacant buildings and land appear to be owned by a variety of companies.
Burlington is doing this (in fact they got a few million in grant money) but the entire Northwest Park office park where the redevelopment is owned by a single company (Nordblom).
In Bedford, I'm thinking the change will occur but on a slower pace. If the first project is successful, then I think the other buildings will be targeted for redevelopment.
It would be interesting to set up a contest, where people could show the vision they have for the area.
Post a Comment