West End heating up
Luxury condo project gets underway Sept. 30
By Phil Santoro, Globe Staff, 9/19/2002
Ground will be broken Sept. 30 on the site of a former nursing home that is being converted into luxury condominiums that city officials, local historians, and developers believe marks another significant step in the renewal of the West End of Malden.
''That area of the city is just beautiful, with gorgeous old estates and manors, wide tree-lined boulevards, and green space. People are starting to appreciate its value and are putting money into it,'' said Stephen M. Wishoski, executive director of the Malden Redevelopment Authority. ''When these properties start to turn over, we want to do what we can to bring them back to their original elegance.''
Coliseum Properties, a fledgling developer in Malden, last year purchased the Bartlett and Buchanan Manor Nursing Home, which comprises two large century-old Colonial Revival houses in the city's desirable neighborhood 5 miles north of Boston, for $900,000. The developer is renovating and restoring the properties to accommodate 16 units of flats and two-story townhouses (eight units in each building) that range in size from 900 to 1,600 square feet.
A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 30 and the first of the units is expected to be completed by November, according to Nestor Limas, one of the principals of Coliseum Properties. Prices for the units are expected to begin at $250,000, Limas said.
Three of the 16 homes have been designated affordable housing units for the life of the condo complex, according to Wishoski. Preference will be given to Malden municipal employees, including schoolteachers, police officers, firefighters, and other city workers, Wishoski said. The developer received a $300,000 loan from the agency for the construction of the affordable units, he said.
Owner William Twomey sold the former nursing home, which served elderly residents for some 20 years, to Coliseum last year. Under a plan administered by the state Department of Public Health, all 74 of the nursing home residents were moved to nearby facilities, according to department administrator Ailish Wilkie.
Several public hearings were held last year to garner neighborhood input on the project, Limas said. The meetings resulted in some changes to the plan, including the location of the nursing homes' driveways, but there was no opposition to the project, he said. ''In the beginning, some folks were skeptical as they might be with any new development,'' Limas said. ''Once we showed them our plans and our intention to preserve the character of the houses, I think we converted the doubters into proponents.''
Coliseum hired Boston architect Flansburgh Associates to design the units. Limas said many of the architectural features of the two houses will be preserved. Some of those features include 12-foot-high mahogany-covered ceilings, ornate fireplaces, and bow-curved, arched windows.
The 19-room Bartlett house, at 180 Summer St., was built in 1893 at a cost of $50,000, according to Joanne Iovino, president of the Malden Historical Society. For many years it served as the residence and offices of prominent Malden physician Clarke Staples. Though there are no records of the Buchanan house at 190 Summer St., which mirrors many of its next door neighbor's features, Iovino said it is likely to have been built at about the same time.
The condominium complex is the latest in a series of historic restoration projects undertaken in the West End neighborhood in recent years. Currently, a developer is converting the former Glenwood School into 29 units of owner-occupied condos, 10 percent of which will be affordable housing units, preserving or restoring many of the architectural features.
The former Wilbur Fisk Haven house on Pleasant Street has been restored to its Victorian era splendor by the Martini Corporation, a developer, to use as its headquarters. The structure is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many other Victorian, Queen Anne, Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival single-family and two-family homes have been restored in the neighborhood, according to Barbara Tolstrup, chairwoman of the Malden Historical Commission.
''In recent years, people have discovered these homes as hidden treasures and are preserving them,'' Tolstrup said. ''There are so many wonderful old houses in this neighborhood and people are starting to appreciate them again.''
Tolstrup pointed out that in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the West End of Malden was home to many wealthy Boston businessmen, including Benjamin Dutton of Houghton and Dutton department stores; and Wilbur Fisk Haven, an owner of the AJ Wilkinson hardware store in downtown Boston. The old Summer Street depot, a few blocks from the former nursing home, provided daily train service to Boston. The former depot is now a restaurant. The Malden Center MBTA Orange Line and commuter rail service is located a block away.
Tolstrup, who grew up in the West End said the condo complex, as designed, is a good new use for that property. ''The ideal, of course, would be to see it restored as a single-family home, but today that just isn't possible for a house that size,'' said Tolstrup. ''It seems like they are doing a good job of restoring it and I think it's going to be good for the neighborhood.''
Limas said he plans additional developments in Malden because he sees potential for a renewal of the West End and Malden Square. His company has acquired some commercial parcels for a proposed 25-unit high-rise apartment development in Malden Square.
''The upside to Malden is incredible, especially compared to Cambridge and Somerville, which has pretty much peaked,'' said Limas. ''You take a look around at what's happening here, with great new restaurants, and the [planned $6 million renovation of the Malden Center] train station and the restorations of these historic buildings and you can see that these are the first signs of a real transition in this community.''
Phil Santoro can be reached at psantoro@globe.com
This story ran on page 1 of the Globe North section on
9/19/2002.
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