City gets $800K to help buy waterfront property

Paul Leighton, The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.
·2 min read

Aug. 1—BEVERLY — The city won an $800,000 state grant to help buy the former Rowand's Seafood property on the waterfront.

Mayor Mike Cahill said the city will use the property mainly for parking. He said he could not talk about other possible uses because the sale is not finalized.

"We think it's important to tie it together with what the city already owns down there," he said.

Rowand's Seafood closed in January after 63 years as a family-run fish market. The property is located at 4 Cabot St. on the waterfront between the Beverly-Salem bridge and the railroad tracks. Dana Rowand, who owns the property, declined to comment for this story.

Residents, recreational boaters and commercial fishermen have raised concerns about lack of parking along the waterfront, especially with the scheduled opening of a new 350-seat restaurant this fall on the former McDonald's property. The city owns two marinas on the waterfront, one for recreational boats and one for commercial boats.

The $800,000 grant was awarded by the state's Seaport Economic Council. Cahill said the City Council will have to approve a matching city grant of $160,000 to help with the purchase of the Rowand's property. The council will have to hold a public hearing, which will most likely be held in September, Cahill said.

The grant was announced this week by the Baker-Polito administration as one of 19 grants totaling $10.8 million designed to help coastal communities advance projects that "benefit commercial maritime industries, improve resident and visitor access to waterfront assets, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and advance future dredging."

Other grants include $1.3 million for Newburyport to fix deteriorating bulkheads along its central waterfront and $76,836 for Manchester-by-the-Sea to raise the Tuck's Point rotunda and walkway to protect against sea level rise.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.