Starbucks slated for Lynnway

LYNN – For years Starbucks has said Lynn is not its demographic, but that tide may be changing.The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a plan Tuesday that could put a 630-square-foot Starbucks drive-thru at 821 Lynnway in the defunct Lynnway Health Club building.”Do you have a confirmation that it will be a Starbucks?” asked ZBA member Ron Mendes.Developer Andy Rose told the board that he has a purchase and sales agreement on the property and has been working with Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain, to ink a deal, but he admitted it’s not finalized yet.”It’s a Starbucks or bust,” he said. “If I can’t finish the deal with Starbucks it’s over.”Board members were largely pleased with the plan but had some questions.The location puts the upscale coffee shop square in the city’s waterfront zone. Attorney Richard Cuffe, representing Rose, said the plan is to demolish the existing building and erect a small T-shaped building that would have a drive-thru and a walk-up window but no cafe seating inside.Mendes questioned why the location wouldn’t offer a full-scale cafe.”The size of this site,” Rose said, “we don’t have enough room to build it.”Rose said the idea is to open the small Starbucks to show the company Lynn is a viable community and hope the company will open a full-size cafe elsewhere in the city.Economic Development Industrial Corporation Executive Director James Cowdell said that is exactly the plan the agency has in mind. He said EDIC has been approaching Starbucks aggressively for the last five years, but the company felt Lynn did not fit its demographic and would not sustain the popular high-end coffee shop. “We’re trying to convince them that’s not true,” Cowdell said. “We’d like to see them open next in the central business district. It’s certainly encouraging that they changed their minds and they’re coming to Lynn.”Rose pointed out that the Swampscott Starbucks is 4.5 miles away and the next closest shop is in East Boston, just over five miles away. He said that leaves a large swath of untapped potential for a Lynn shop. He also noted that 44,000 cars a day travel the Lynnway.The only argument board members had with the plan is that it failed to include dimensions on the parking spaces and a few other minor details. Board member Patrick Calnan also suggested the dumpster be moved.The board approved the plan with the caveat that a clarification plan with a full parking plan along with plot and building dimensions be submitted by noon Thursday.”I think it’s a great improvement down there on the Lynnway and they offer a good product,” Calnan said.”Most importantly it will bring new business to the Lynnway,” Cuffe added.In a letter to the board, Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano also offered his support to the project.”This is great news for the City of Lynn to have a national chain locate their business on the Lynnway,” he wrote.”I’m actually overjoyed that someone is actually putting a proposal forward for a Starbucks” Mendes said.Rose said he had no specific timeline for the project but he expected it, if all goes as planned, to open this year.”I’m hoping to be done by late fall,” he said.