Ambrosino: City seizure of site not the answer

REVERE – Mayor Thomas Ambrosino says a proposed city seizure of the empty Stop & Shop storefront in Northgate shopping center is not the answer to complaints generated by the Squire Road property.City Councilors fed up with the vacant Stop & Shop property at Northgate urged Ambrosino to exercise a legal process called eminent domain and take the store site.The mayor said the store location’s $3 million assessed valuation on city property tax rolls make that suggestion cost prohibitive.”I understand the frustration with this site. None of us are happy with the fact that this building has been vacant for the past years. In my opinion, our best approach is to continue to work with the managing agent of Northgate to find a use for the site,” Ambrosino stated in a letter to councilors.Management firm Allen Associates informed councilors at a 2004 meeting that the company hoped by 2006 to attract “a national tenant” to the vacant space once occupied by Fretter Inc. Fretter and Stop & Shop were Northgate’s two major tenants.Allen said the Stop & Shop space is being used partly to store the city of Boston’s Christmas decorations.In addition to complaining about vacant storefronts, councilors have also criticized Northgate as a periodic source of council complaints about poor lighting, empty buildings, potholes and unauthorized flea markets on the shopping center property.Angry councilors branded Northgate a “dump” and criticized Allen Associates’ management of the center in 2005. Manager Douglas Allen pledged in response to attract major tenants to Northgate and improve parking lot lighting.Ward 3 Councilor Arthur Guinasso and Police Chief Terence Reardon said Northgate needs a security patrol to curtail truck parking and transient vendors, including furniture dealers from North Carolina, who set up shop in the center’s lot.Northgate’s residential neighbors praised McDonald’s decision last year to move from the residential side of Squire Road to Northgate.The City Council initially approved plans to allow McDonald’s to build a 74-seat drive-thru restaurant on the current site of Pearl Vision eye wear. Pearl Vision will move to a store site near the shopping center entrance and Taco Bell.McDonald’s plans to sell its current location after the fast food chain builds on the shopping center site