On the rise: At last, signs of movement on the Beverly waterfront – The Salem News

BEVERLY The former McDonald's restaurant on the Beverly waterfront was finally demolished last week to make way for a planned new restaurant. Not far away on the other side of the Beverly-Salem bridge, people are moving into a new apartment complex, which includes a waterfront walkway that gives the public access to that area for the first time.

Those developments mark the most significant signs of progress in decades for an area of the city that hasfailed to live up to its potential. After years of planning and delay, many are hoping the long-sought revitalization of the city's waterfront is starting to become a reality.

"That waterfront is a gem," said Mike Procopio, whose company built the new Sedna apartments on Congress Street. "It's one of the neatest spots on the North Shore. Bringing residents down to the water will lead to a kind of renaissance of that strip."

Marty Bloom, owner of the restaurant that will replace the McDonald's, said the symbolism of the long-vacant McDonald's finally coming down could wake people up to what is happening on the waterfront and eventually lead to more changes.

"Is this the beginning of the beginning?" Bloom said. "Hopefully it spurs on more rethinking. There are a lot of old buildings down there. Maybe this makes it viable for people to look at what they have and reimagine it. There's no reason in the world why Beverly should not have a world-class waterfront."

City officials dating back to former Mayor Bill Scanlon's administration have viewed the McDonald's site, which the city bought in 1995, as the key to unlocking the waterfront's potential. Previous efforts to lease it out for a restaurant ran afoul of zoning regulations, lawsuits and neighborhood opposition, leaving the former fast-food building to sit mostly idle for decades.

Bloom was the only bidder when the city sought another round of proposals two years ago. He secured final approval in October when the state OK'd a waterways license and neighbors who had opposed the project decided not to appeal.

The restaurant on Water Street will have 350 seats and will be called Mission Boathouse. Bloom saidhe plans to start construction next spring and open in the spring of 2022.

'An experience on the waterfront'

On the other side of the bridge, another long-delayed project is nearing completion. The Sedna apartments is a two-story complex on Congress Street with 62 apartments. One of its buildings opened in October and is 25% occupied, said Procopio, of the Lynnfield-based Procopio Companies. The other building will open in January.

Procopio said the company has gotten an "overwhelmingly positive" response from prospective tenants, particularly from older people who are looking to downsize. Rents range from $2,200 per month for a one-bedroom to $3,900 for a two-bedroom with the best views of the water.

Procopio said the new restaurant will be a "huge amenity" for residents of the new apartments and will help tie the waterfront together and make it more walkable.

"It makes it an experience on the waterfront, not just a place where somebody comes if they have a boat," he said. "Beverly has long been very desirable because of its unique location on the water. Yet much of Beverly has been restricted to single-family homes. We think Sedna really complements that. It brings that lifestyle out of the single-family and down to the waterfront."

Ward 2 City Councilor Estelle Rand, who represents the area, said the new apartment buildings have already had an impact on the neighborhood with its new sidewalks and public walkway. The walkway, which was required under the permitting process for the project, runs along the back of the complex and has benches, new landscaping, five public parking spaces, and great views of Beverly Harbor and the Danvers River.

The site, which was once the home of a business that produced uranium metal powder for the first atomic bomb,was previously occupied by shuttered industrial buildings and had been inaccessible for years.

"The walkway is gorgeous," Rand said. "That's an immediate and positive impact."

Rand said the full impact of the apartments on the neighborhood won't be known until they are fully occupied. Residents have expressed concern about traffic increases and parking crunches as a result of the apartments and the restaurant.

"It's important for me to keep my ears and eyes open for any problems that I can help solve when it comes to congestion and safety," Rand said.

Rand said the next step is to continue the effort to connect the public walkways on the waterfront, which as they stand now don't allow for a continuous route along the water. The apartments and the restaurant might not be accessible to all people from a socio-economic perspective, she said, but the public walkways are for everyone.

"Whether you support a restaurant or the apartments is not as important as realizing that these are landmark projects that should help us achieve our goal of connecting the waterfront," Rand said. "The access to the waterfront is just huge, because that's free. We can all enjoy that."

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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On the rise: At last, signs of movement on the Beverly waterfront - The Salem News