SWAMPSCOTT — The Planning Board met Monday evening to discuss and potentially vote on an application for the development of the Glover Residences at Vinnin Square. The project’s site at 299 Salem St. was once the historic house of General John Glover and later became a popular restaurant.
The Glover Residences site consists of approximately 4.06 acres of land located between Vinnin Street in Salem, Salem Street in Swampscott, and Tedesco Street in Marblehead. The proposal includes two buildings with 96 rental units in Swampscott and one building with 44 rental units in Marblehead.
There will also be 17 affordable housing units. The applicant of this project is Leggat McCall Properties LLC.
During public comment, many touched on the issue of traffic around the area of the site. While an independent traffic study has already been done in that area, members of the public asked for the Planning Board to perform a new one.
Before going over the application, Planning Board Chair Angela Ippolito spoke about the history of this property. She said she felt it was important to speak about the history on the record because “we don’t want to be the people (…) that make this history go away.”
“We don’t want to be the ones that just shut it all down and we never hear about it again,” she said.
The history she spoke about was that of General Glover, who lived in the house and acted as an important figure in the North Shore in the late 1700s.
“His residence still standing to this day has been converted into one of the better known restaurants along the North Shore.” Ippolito said. “We will be talking about what we can do to salvage some of that property and what would be the appropriate action to honor the site.”
The board, along with Leggat McCall Properties LLC, examined each section of the application to make revisions. The Planning Board voted unanimously to approve of the project.
