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Man who bought old Tunnel Administration building in the North End wants to turn it into that rarest of North End things: A single-family house
By adamg on Tue, 08/09/2022 - 2:00pm
NorthEnd.page reports on a meeting last night on a proposal by Sal Lupoli to turn the old North Street building, which also includes a former police station, into a 6,700 square-foot, five-bedroom house with parking for four vehicles and a roof deck.
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Comments
Gross
Great job by MassDOT. Community process and then they turn around and sell it to this guy. Hopefully the City has its say.
Back when I lived in the
Back when I lived in the North End this area was very monoxidey
Great job by MassDOT.
I thought the article said the City sold it to "this guy"?
Probably MassDOT
The lead paragraph of the article says the building was sold by the city but then links to a prior article that goes into depth about the MassDOT bid and sale.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Interestingly, that same article says single-family residential was already an approved use. Why then does he need zoning approval now to do exactly that? Is it a case of the zoning having been changed, or something like "that was 'planned use for state approval to purchase', but you also need 'city approval to use that use'"?
This is Boston
Where nothing is simple.
We'll have to wait until he gets a "refusal" letter from ISD and then applies to the zoning board to see the exact reasons, but, the proposed house could be too large for the lot it's on (floor area ratio), it could be too close to its neighbor, it could be too tall (that steeple thing), there could be an issue with the parking.
Can't wait for the concrete lions and giant water fountains
.
Normally I would say abutters
Normally I would say abutters and others are just being jerks who are nosey but it sounds like this was acquired by devious means. His client may have gotten it for a lower price than if it went out to bid with other parties knowing it could be used for these sorts of things.
The owner found some loopholes in the system and is now being battered at a community meeting process and I am ok with that. He is not asking for a building permit he is asking for RELIEF. That means some discretion can be made and the trust that he will do what he says he will do is a factor. Clearly this gentleman knows how to take an inch and go a mile with it. Let him be stuck with a useless piece of property and then figure out how to sell something that has no real worth anymore because it can't get zoning relief.
Maybe in five years of paying taxes on the property he will cut his loses and hand it to the non profit interests.
This is really too bad. NBSS
This is really too bad. NBSS, which directly abuts the site, wanted this property and would have done a great job of renovating it. They even offered to provide accessible space for NEMPAC. Instead, NEMPAC, which had no ability to develop the property on its own, played dog in the manger and made a bid for the property. The result is that the community gets nothing in end. I sincerely doubt that the purchaser intends to live over the tunnel entrance. My guess would be that they intend to finagle something that can be used as a short-term rental venue. It would be interesting to know who negotiated this within DOT.
Each community based entity- NBSS and NEMPAC
…had different visions and went for them. This guy said he would help support NEMPAC’s vision, which seems to have got him in the door, then somewhere in the state process, he was lifted of that connection, and now claims - through his lawyer- that all along he wanted a residence.
If that were the case, the non profit would not have had anything to do with him, and raises a huge credibility issue as the developer makes promises, assurances, etc. now.
Sal couldn't even find time to show up for the meeting.
Bad Pizza.
Bad People.
Lil' Papa John
Maybe someone can answer this
Maybe someone can answer this for me: is there any connection whatsoever between Sal's Pizza (run by Sal Lupoli, HQ in Lawrence, est. 1990) and Sal's Pizzeria in Mamaroneck, NY (founded almost 60 years ago)? Their logos are almost the same, using identical fonts for "Sal's", but as far as I can tell they are unrelated businesses, which makes sense because Westchester Sal's is great and NH chain Sal's is mediocre at best.
Wait
This is the pizza guy?
I never had it once in 19 years in Boston.
You dodged a bullet
The pizza is palatable but is bland and generic. It's the sort of thing you'd expect at the cafeteria in a convention center.
One of his full service restaurants (Salvatore's) is near me. They did a nice job converting the old bank famous for the Medford police bank robbery into restaurant. But the food is so-so and the service is lacking. The place can't figure out if it wants to be a bar with loud music and trivia or a relaxing place to have dinner with friends. It ends up being the worst of both. I gave it three chances before striking it off my list forever.
Anyway, I'm not surprised he was the one who bought that building and wants to convert it to single family. It's just the sort of Great Potential But Big Let Down I'd expect given his other businesses.
It sucks!
Worst chain pizza since Domino's!
That building is enormous!
Even if we we're talking servants all around it is way to large to be a single family home. Just how big a family does Sal have?
If it's only the "tunnel
If it's only the "tunnel administration" space (and not the "police station" part of the building), it's not any larger than some of the single-family row mansions fronting the Commonwealth Avenue mall in the Back Bay.
The only difference will be he'll have a front yard.
Yeah right
More like a 5 bedroom frat house with 20 unrelated people creepily living together. BTW there is not enough parking spots.
7k square feet and only 5
7k square feet and only 5 bedrooms? what the hell is the rest of the space going to?