Dollar Store lacks city support

LYNN – A Dollar Store is “the last thing” a top city planner wants to see on Andrew Street and city officials hope to convince a developer to consider another tenant for the vacant lot located a block off Market Street.Plans filed with the city for the 35-50 Central Ave. property bordering Andrew Street outline plans to build a Dollar Store on the lot. But city Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Director James Cowdell said he has spoken with developer Stephen Stapinski about a project involving “market rate” residences on the lot and a ground-floor tenant.?He?s talked about mixed use with us. If he?s moving forward with a Dollar Store, I?d say that?s the last thing we want,” Cowdell said Thursday.Stapinski identified himself in an interview on Friday as one of several people involved with Water Street Retail LLC. He said Cowdell and other officials have not told him their concerns about a Dollar Store.He said Water Street is constructing a retail building on Andrew Street but he declined to identify the tenant planned for the building.Plans filed with the city list a foundation construction permit approved by inspectors in December 2012. The plans outline details for a construction a 9,200-square-foot, single-story Dollar Store on the site with off-street parking located next to the building.Cowdell said he would like to see a restaurant in the Andrew Street building?s ground floor.?What we want is a business that will bring people into that area,” Cowdell said.Andrew and other downtown streets are designated for commercial and retail use on ground floors under current city zoning codes with upper-floor residences.Stapinski said Water Street wants to build “mixed use retail/residential” projects on two other downtown lots but said developers are waiting for city zoning changes he said are required to move the project forward.Stapinski said work on the building will be finished in March. It is being built on the former site of an animal fat rendering plant. The site is located opposite a city-owned parking lot.The city recently moved the lot?s entrance a block away to Liberty Street to provide easy access and parking for customers shopping and eating in the nearby D?Amici?s Bakery and Rossetti?s, a restaurant scheduled to open on Liberty Street this fall.Ward 5 City Councilor Brendan Crighton said he has discussed the Dollar Store plans with a developer representative.?I expressed my opposition to that concept. I?m not opposed to Dollar Stores but there are several in the area and I think something else would be a better fit,” Crighton said.