By SCOTT JACKSON
A local restaurateur has unveiled plans to construct a new seven-story building with two floors of restaurant space and 43 apartments on Hancock Street, the latest step in the effort to redevelop Quincy Center.
Joey Arcari, the president of the Broadway Hospitality Group, on Wednesday pitched his proposal for the seven-story building to the Planning Board. The board could approve the project as soon as its next meeting on May 10.
Arcari is proposing to construct the new building at 1445 Hancock St., which was home to Family Dollar before it closed in recent months. That property is next to two other buildings – 1455 and 1465 Hancock St. – which the city plans to raze in the coming months to make way for a park. A separate development is also in the pipeline for 1469 Hancock St., currently the Adams Arcade building, which would be built by a different developer.
Arcari, whose company owns 20 restaurants throughout the region, including the Tavern in the Square chain, told the Planning Board he sees himself as a restaurateur first and a developer second. He said the new restaurant would be the most important part of the development at 1445 Hancock St.
“The really important component, I feel, for this project, especially now with the mayor’s new park being built next door, is the restaurant piece. We’re going to build a real flagship-type restaurant, two stories,” Arcari said.
“As you can see from this rendering, this is really what we want this street to look like when this project is done. Lots of people mulling around. We’re going to set the building back eight feet from Hancock and then, along with the mayor’s park, I think this is really going to be an awesome area.”
Arcari said he was honored to be part of the new Quincy Center.
“A lot of people ask, ‘why Quincy?’ and I find that a stupid question,” he said. “I tell them ‘of course Quincy.’ You just have to drive through the center here, you see all the development going on. You’ve got an incredible mayor, Mayor Koch, who is really driving all this new development stuff. I’m just honored to be part of it.”
The new building’s façade will be comprised of glass, stone and masonry, according to Nick Ruggeri, an architect with the firm RODE Architects.
“We’re envisioning a bold, timeless architecture, well-crafted, that makes use of predominantly masonry, stone, metal and glass to create a forward-looking design for the center of Quincy,” he said.
The new restaurant would occupy the majority of the ground floor of the building, Ruggeri stated. The ground floor would also include two lobbies for the apartments above, one on the Hancock Street side and the other on the McConville Way side. The loading zone and trash room would be on the McConville Way side of the building, as would the entrance to a garage under the building.
The second floor of the building would include both restaurant space and apartments, Ruggeri said, with more units on floors three through seven. Roughly half of the 43 units would include two bedrooms and the other half would have one bedroom.
The project is subject to the city’s affordable housing requirements, said David Mahoney, the applicant’s attorney. It remains to be determined whether the developer provides affordable housing units on site or if he makes a payment to the affordable housing trust fund in lieu of the on-site units.
There would be seating for outdoor dining in front of the building along Hancock Street, within a portion of the city-owned civic space next door at 1455 Hancock St., and on a deck located within the second floor of the building. The top of the building would include a roof deck for the building’s residents.
The developer plans tap into utility lines located under McConville Way, said Olivia von den Benken, senior project manager with Granite City Partners. Those lines had been rebuilt in 2021 in anticipation of development in the area.
The garage under the building would include space for 18 vehicles, all of which would be assigned to residents of the building. As part of an urban renewal covenant signed by the developer and the city, the developer has agreed to lease additional parking spaces from the city, according to Rob Stevens, the city’s deputy planning director. Those spaces could be located in the city-owned Kilroy Square garage, a new garage planned in the vicinity of the Parkingway, or in surface lots in the area.
Stevens also noted the city plans to tear down the buildings it owns at 1455 and 1465 Hancock St. in the coming months. Mahoney said his client plans to raze the Family Dollar building in concert with the demolition of those buildings. The space at 1455 and 1465 Hancock St. could then be used as a lay-down area during construction of Arcari’s building.
Arcari’s proposal received a warm reception from the Planning Board.
“Congratulations on bringing this to Quincy,” said Alie Shaughnessy, an alternate member of the board. “I think it’s wonderful for the city.”
“Thank you for choosing the city of Quincy,” said member John Kelly. “This looks like a great project. I like the way it looks. It’s a nice looking building. I think it will be a great addition to the city of Quincy downtown area.”
Kelly also encouraged the developer to select a contractor who would employ local workers. “The men and women of the city of Quincy,” he said, “would enjoy working on this project.”
The board did not vote on the proposed building on Wednesday as it is still being reviewed by various city departments. A vote on the proposal could come as soon as next month’s meeting.