ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
BY THOMAS GRILLO
A wrecking ball is demolishing the former Atlantic Coast Seafood Market behind the Lynnway to make way for the city’s latest business or apartment complex.
Two years ago, the 175-189 Alley Street LLC, an entity managed by Thomas Demakes paid $1 million for the 2-acre parcel that included a one-story brick building.
Demakes, president of Old Neighborhood Quality Foods, a family-owned company that started in 1914, said he is still studying the market to determine what will work best for the site.
“I’m trying to clean up that section of the neighborhood,” he said.
Originally, he thought it was a good location for a warehouse, but Alley Street is too narrow to accommodate tractor trailers.
Now, Demakes is considering business condominiums similar to the project at the nearby former Lynn Lumber site on Commercial Street.
Lynn Business Park RT and the Nicholas Mennino Trust bought the 84,000-square-foot Commercial Street lot in 2014 for $1.4 million. They used a portion of the land for a series of business storefronts including the Beantown Barbell Club and Safe & Secure Limousine across from Bent Water Brewing Co.
“Nick did a good job over there,” he said. “But I’m not 100 percent sure what I’ll do because I have real estate people checking out the market to see what will work and what the City Council wants.”
One possibility is apartments, he said.
“Market rate housing is also something we’re considering,” Demakes said. “My kids have been critical of me because I get involved in these projects more to help the city than to make money on the project. I’m trying to do both.”
James Cowdell, executive director of the Economic Development & Industrial Corp., said the 53,034-square-foot facility had been mostly vacant for years. Given the property’s uniqueness, Cowdell said the best alternative was to demolish it and start anew.
Peter Capano, the Ward 6 City Councilor, said he likes the idea of a handsome one-story structure for business condominiums. He said it would be a good fit for the neighborhood
“The people in this neighborhood would favor it,” he said. “Tom will do it right with landscaping and make it look really nice.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].
