AMHERST — A project to build Amherst’s first downtown office building in more than 30 years will be reviewed by town planners next week.
The four-story building, designed by Kuhn Riddle Architects and featuring just under 5,400 square feet of space on each floor, will come before the Planning Board at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The board meets in the Town Room at Town Hall.
Proposed by developers Barry Roberts and J. Curtis Shumway, the project would be built on a 15,791-square-foot lot at 236 North Pleasant St., which is where North Pleasant, East Pleasant and Hallock streets merge, across from the southern tip of Kendrick Park.
Roberts said he and Shumway have talked to several businesses that might locate in the building, but are not identifying future tenants.
“We would like to bring this new office building downtown to give an opportunity to bring some of these interested parties to downtown,” Roberts said.
The ground level may feature retail shops and cafes, though there will not be a full-service restaurant, Roberts said, since needed ventilation systems would take up too much space within the building.
Shumway said construction, which would last about a year, could begin early in 2017, though this will depend on both Planning Board approvals and having enough space pre-leased to businesses. “We have had several very interested businesses that really like the location,” Shumway said.
No new downtown office building has been constructed since the Tucker-Taft Building at 48 North Pleasant St. was completed in the 1980s.
The developers cannot start work until the expiration of a year-long demolition delay on two historic homes imposed in January by the Historical Commission.
Both homes will have to be demolished or moved to make way for the new building. The 236 North Pleasant St. home was once a wing of the Mount Pleasant Classical Institute, a short-lived school that opened in the late-1820s. The 12 Hallock St. property was once the vestry for the First Church, which is now College Hall at Amherst College.
To be approved, a majority of the eight members of the Planning Board would have to vote in favor of the project in the limited business, or B-L, zoning district, said Planning Director Christine Brestrup.
“Whatever would be allowed in the B-L district will be addressed by site-plan review,” Brestrup said.
In addition to the site-plan review, the developers are requesting special permits that would allow the project to exceed height limits and modify the setbacks required in the limited business zone. The special permits would allow for a 45-foot tall building, exceeding the 35-foot limit, rise to four floors, instead of the three-floor limit, and vary from the front 20-foot setback and the side 25-foot setback.
But Roberts said because of town’s “broken zoning,” the limited business zone restricts any building to 35 percent coverage of a lot. This means the types of in-fill development recommended by the master plan, and which reduce sprawl, cannot easily be done on many parcels in downtown.
The plan also includes 14 parking spaces on site, though as part of the municipal parking district, the developers are not obligated to provide parking.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
