At West Roxbury meeting on Centre Street condo proposal, the talk turns to all the empty storefronts on the street

Residents who attended a meeting tonight on a 16-unit condo proposal for the old West Roxbury Motors site generally gave a thumbs up to a proposed design that eliminates an earlier exterior that residents found too modern for the area, too much like something built out of Lego bricks.

But when one resident questioned why the single ground-floor commercial space would be made off limits to a restaurant or coffee shop - in a building that would be across the street from the neighborhood Starbucks - other residents said that wouldn't bother them, because that stretch of Centre Street already has at least ten vacant storefronts.

Other residents agreed they'd love to see that stretch of Centre become even more bustling. But they said that from the empty space next to Rox Diner to the completely empty block of stores once anchored by Espresso Pizza, several landlords have decided they'd rather sit on vacant spaces than rent them out for some reason known only to them.

Gary Martell, one of the developers of the proposed West Roxbury Motors condos, half joked that he knew he could easily fill the building's commercial space with a bank. He quickly reassured the handful of residents who attended the meeting, though, that he and partner Greg Alexandris would be looking to sign a lease with a lawyer, architect or some other small professional entity rather than a bank, which he agreed Centre Street doesn't need any more of.

Architect Rick Schmidt said he redrew plans for the building to better blend in with the surrounding area of both Centre and Willow streets, right down to the double-hung windows that he said are more evocative of the residential neighborhood of Willow Street than the earlier windows, especially when coupled with the clapboard-like material that would cover the walls between the building's bay windows.

At the same time, he said, the design is more architecturally interesting than the plain 1960s-type apartment building next door and would play off the Starbucks building across the street.

Chris Tracy, project manager for the BRA, said BRA planners are paying close attention to the building's design because of its location at a key West Roxbury intersection.

"Even though it's a small project, it's an important project for West Roxbury," he said.

The 16-unit building would have 29 parking spaces. All the units would have two bedrooms; four would be duplexes.

When one resident fretted the proposed ground-level planters could become glorified ashtrays, Martell said the building would have a management company that would maintain the planters.

Martell and Schmidt added they wanted to try to incorporate some green into the project; Martell pointed to a new condo building on Robert Street next to the train bridge in Roslindale Square as an example of what happens when you have no planters "It looks horrible," he said of the Roslindale building. "It looks like the back of a building."