AMHERST — An Amherst developer in the midst of constructing a new mixed-use building on University Drive called Campus View is eyeing potential for development on another parcel along the road that connects Route 9 to the University of Massachusetts campus.
With Barry Roberts expected to purchase 100 University Drive, the site of a two-story office building that opened in 1985 and an adjacent 90-space parking lot, his attorney brought a so-called approval-not-required subdivision plan to the Planning Board last Wednesday.
Tom Reidy, an attorney with Bacon Wilson, PC of Amherst, said that the idea is to divide the property into two lots, one that will contain the 100 University Drive building, known in its early years as the site of Lincoln Pulp and Paper Co., and the other that will have the associated parking and undeveloped land.
Roberts is supposed to buy the property from Gleason Johndrow Investments LLC of Southampton on Aug. 12. That company acquired the building for $5.2 million in 2020.
Reidy said Roberts is buying the property “to give himself the potential for doing development along University Drive.”
The land is zoned for office park, not limited business, but is part of the University Drive overlay district that encourages construction of apartment buildings and other housing.
In addition to the ongoing work on Campus View, which will feature more than 100 residential units in a six-story building at the corner of University Drive and Amity Street, nearby Roberts also built the nearby Seventy University Drive apartments and an adjacent restaurant.
Members of the Planning Board questioned whether there would be enough parking for the office building should new development happen. Reidy said there will be a perpetual easement for the office building to access the parking spaces, and that Roberts would be obligated to find other parking if the parking lot is replaced.
The zoning bylaw for office buildings requires 3.3 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of gross area on the first floor.
Board members raised other concerns. Bruce Coldham said he wanted to ensure a nonconforming lot wasn’t being created, and all setback requirements were being met, while member Roy Johnson said he would have liked to have more time to look at the plans.
Reidy said the subdivision complies with frontage setbacks and building coverage and the endorsement from the Planning Board is only specific to the subdivision, not zoning.
Planning Board Chairman Doug Marshall said the odd shape of the lot and how it was being divided made this a complicated case.
Walker Powell, a town planner, said that before such a subdivision comes before the Planning Board, the building commissioner, town engineer and planning staff all examine plans to make sure there are no issues and, if any to develop, that they are dealt with.
Powell said usually the Planning Board just has to make sure frontage requirements are met and that there’s enough space on the newly created lot for a building.
Reidy said the Planning Board is required to grant mandatory approval within 21 days.
