City Council approves special permit for Salem Street condos

  On Monday night the City Council approved a special permit for a 72-unit condominium development at the site of a former nursing home on Salem Street. Broadway Capital in Chelsea wants to convert the West Revere Health Center at 133 Salem St. to a mixed-use development with 71 condominium units and one office. Developers plan to use the existing structure, update it and add one story to the existing three-story building.

  Since first coming before the council earlier this year, the developers agreed to increase the number of parking spots for the project to 103, included seven affordable housing units, and dictate that no more than 10 percent of the total units could be rented out by the owners of the condominiums.

  Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino thanked the developers for their work with the council’s Zoning Subcommittee and with the neighborhood. Serino did ask if the construction on the project could start at 7:30 a.m. rather than 7 a.m. to help alleviate noise concerns for neighbors, and exclude construction on Saturdays.

  Mikael Vienneau, the managing director of Broadway Capital, said he is amenable to the requests.

  “It’s great working with someone who knows where the city wants to be, and making those concessions to help the city, help the residents – we appreciate that,” said City Council President Gerry Visconti.

  Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe praised the communication between Broadway Capital, the city and the residents. “Most importantly, to the city, for one of the first times we are requesting for a private developer to have condominiums at below market rates to our residents, veterans, seniors and workforce residents of our city,” said Keefe. “We were able to get seven units, that was the ask, 10 percent, and we were able to get that.”

  Clifton Street resident Tony Chianca also spoke in favor of the project. “I took it on my own time to go to visit his other project on Broadway in Chelsea, and I was very impressed with the quality of the project, and the parking lot was clean and the place was professionally done,” he said.

  Ward 5 Councillor Al Fiore cast the lone vote against the special permit. “I am certainly pleased the developer is proposing condominiums; with all the development in the city, I wish that was something that was done all along Revere Beach so we would have a little more vested interest,” said Fiore. “I understand that something has to go there, but I am opposed to adding a story; I am opposed to the additional units. For those reasons, I will be voting no on the matter.”