NORTHAMPTON — Further housing development is in the works for downtown Florence, with the new owners of the Parsons Block building complex planning new condominiums at the corner of Meadow and Maple streets.

The condos, divided into two separate structures consisting of a total of 11 housing units, received special permit approval from the Planning Board on Thursday. In addition to housing units, the new buildings would also include a first-floor commercial or retail space within one of the buildings, according a narrative of the site submitted to the board.

Existing vacant housing structures on the property behind the Parsons Block building will be demolished to make way for the new condos, according to civil engineer Rebecca Li of R. Levesque Associates, the firm overseeing the planning of the project. The plan also calls for the construction of drive aisles, a parking lot and pedestrian walkways on the property.

“We’re going through the Historical Commission and those proper channels for that to happen,” Li said during the Planning Board meeting on Thursday. “There’s a bunch of existing utilities on site that will either have to be demolished or relocated to accommodate the proposed site improvements.”

James Sowell, vice president of Valere Architects, described the proposed two buildings, dubbed “Building A” and “Building B” in detail before the board. “Building A” is to be situated along Meadow Street and consist of five units, while “Building B” is located behind and consists of six units. It is not currently known how large each unit will be and how many people each unit can accommodate.

“We’re in an early design phase that will be flushed out later than the construction documentation,” Sowell said.

The new condominiums would be in addition to the existing nine apartments within Parsons Block, a century-old building recently renovated by Patriot Property Management when it acquired the property in 2022. Parsons Block also features 11 commercial spaces hosting businesses such as A-1 Pizza and Bird’s Store.

Just across the street, another building is under construction by Keiter Builders, a three-story, 4,250-square-foot structure at 81 Maple St. totaling 40 feet in height. Once completed, the building will include a two-bedroom apartment and commercial space on its first floor, three, one-bedroom and two, two-bedroom apartments on the second floor, and four, two-bedroom apartments on the third floor, for a total of 10 new housing units.

Jordan Healy, a property manager with Patriot Property, said the decision to add the latest condominiums came as a response to the additional development happening around the center of Florence.

“We looked into renovating the existing structures,” Healy said in an interview. “But adding a new development there we think will really elevate the downtown Florence area.”

Healy reiterated that it was too early for details about the separate units.

“We just had an approval on the preliminary plans,” he said. “Now we’re going to be stepping in and seeing what our options are.”

The project received unanimous approval from the Planning Board, although not without some additional recommendations, such as whether parking on the property will be open to the public.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to be general parking for downtown Florence, if people will be able to park there and walk into the back of Bird’s Store,” said board member George Kohout. “That’s something that needs to be worked out, so there aren’t some conflicts in the future.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.