AMHERST – Fewer tenants will call a mixed-use building home if the Planning Board later this month approves changes to the proposed five-story One East Pleasant project.
Archipelago Investments LLC, which is redeveloping the former site of the Amherst Carriage Shops and received site plan review and special permit approvals for the project in December 2014, will make its request for a series of adjustments to the board at its meeting at Town Room at Town Hall July 20 at 7:45 p.m.
The request includes modifying the floor plans for the second through fifth floors to increase dwelling units from 84 to 135, but to reduce the number of tenants from 184 to 143.
The new plans also call for reconfiguring the ground level, which may have a retail component, and to make some changes to the exterior, such as the wall on which will be repainted the Amherst History Mural.
For business leaders, reducing the three- and four-bedroom apartments at One East Pleasant, and instead having more one-bedroom and studio apartments, is not a concern.
“We think the changes are either minimal or net positives, from the the chamber’s perspective,” said Jerry Guidera, interim executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce.
Guidera said the creation of the Amherst Works co-working space in downtown Amherst shows there is growing demand for places to work from people who make their homes in the commercial core.
Sarah la Cour, executive director of Amherst Business Improvement District, said having more than 100 new residents will benefit restaurants and shops, as well. “It’s still a huge net gain,” la Cour said.
La Cour added that Archipelago is interested in having a better product and is responding not only to market forces, which it understands from previous mixed-use developments Kendrick Place, which opened last August, and the August 2012 opening of Boltwood Place, but also to what potential renters are
Asbestos abatement at the former Amherst Carriage Shops is continuing, at both the two-story building originally constructed as a hotel, and two office buildings. All are slated for demolition before One East Pleasant is built.
Though at maximum occupancy the new project will lose 41 residents, many of whom might live in downtown year around, Guidera said these tenants are less likely to be college students, which should alleviate worries from some that the project will become a place for off-campus parties.
“The sooner we can have people living and working downtown, it’s a big piece of the puzzle,” Guidera said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
