PAWTUCKET – The City Planning Commission has approved a new 120-unit housing complex within the Conant Thread zone, adding to a boom of housing around the new-ish Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center.
On June 16, Nulco Lofts LLC and Piccadilly LLC (Rebecca Spencer) sought and received unified development review for their preliminary plan at 30 Beecher St. in the Woodlawn neighborhood, including a use variance for property frontage and frontage design characteristics.
The housing will be located on a 343,000-square-foot, 8-acre tract of land owned by the Nulco Lofts and Piccadilly. The 1 Lofts mill housing redevelopment is already located on the property.
The applicant received approval for the major land development project as part of a unified process for the expansion of residential apartments along the frontage between the proposed building and the street, and to improve both the existing office space and garage space on the property.
The Planning Department’s recommendation for approval of relief noted the awkward frontage and zig-zagging nature of the property on Beecher Street. Allowing the variance makes way for trees on the property to be saved.
Planners said they found the project consistent with the surrounding area. Here’s a story I wrote a year ago on the proliferation of new housing in the area.
“On neighboring properties, there is a mixture of various industrial, commercial, and multifamily residential uses, and the Thread complex to the north has likewise been planned for a mixture of commercial and residential uses. Staff finds there will be no undue nuisances resulting from the proposed second phase of construction at this site,” stated the staff report.
