Plans for new apartment complex in Fall River's old police station clear another hurdle
FALL RIVER — With the support of the city and the Fall River Preservation Society, the owner of the old Bedford Street police station was granted a special permit regarding parking from the Fall River Zoning Board of Appeals last week.
Marc Lederman, owner of the development firm Wethersfield LLC, said with this relief from parking requirements the plans to redevelop the more than 100-year-old structure, which has been one of the downtown area’s most blighted properties, can move ahead into 30 to 35 units of “workforce-rate” apartments. Workforce rate apartments are defined as "an affordable option for renters who earn too much to qualify for traditional subsidized housing but are still burdened by high market rents," according to MassHousing.
“We got a positive response, and we got a positive outcome, which means we can start with the next steps with finalizing designs and laying plans and get our building permit, then actually shovel to dirt,” said Lederman.
One of the first major renovations in redeveloping the old police station would be to put a new roof on the four-story building, which has gaping holes, allowing in the elements.
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Support to bypass parking rules
Attorney Mathew Thomas, the city’s real estate lawyer, brokered the sales agreement between the city and Wethersfield. The deal contains specific deadlines for the developer. Thomas wrote in a letter that the administration supported Lederman’s application for the special permit.
In preliminary plans, the project has the space at the old police station to support six non-handicapped-accessible parking spaces and two handicapped-accessible spaces.
City ordinances usually require that a project has two spaces per unit.
Attorney Joseph Macy, the city’s former corporation counsel and retired judge, represented Lederman at the zoning board hearing.
During the hearing, Macy noted the history of the failed attempts to redevelop the Bedford Street property. The unsuccessful attempts to sell off the property go back to Mayor Edward Lambert’s administration, followed by former mayors Will Flanagan and Jasiel Correia II.
Mayor Paul Coogan pushed to give the city one last shot at successfully selling and redeveloping the property when he first took office in 2020.
“I hope this is the last best chance to rehabilitate that building, because it’s there now but it’s structurally difficult,” said Macy.
Alex Silva, a member of the Preservation Society’s board of directors, noted that the old police station was built “circa 1915 [and] is a historic part of the central downtown in the old central business district.”
“Given the construction of this building pre-dated the advent of the automobile it would be detrimental for the community to hold this historic building to the same parking regulations as modern new construction projects,” said Silva.
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Agreement extension
On Jan. 25, 2020, the city closed on the sale of the former police station with benchmarks for redevelopment imposed on the building, which also has significant contamination issues.
Lederman purchased the ailing property for $10,000.
Lederman’s crews had started preliminary demolition on the first floor, and then the COVID pandemic hit and slowed down progress.
Thomas renegotiated the terms with Wethersfield and those benchmarks were extended a year, which would take the final completion of the project into 2024.
Jo C. Goode may be reached at jgoode@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today!
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Apartments in Fall River's old police station are moving forward
