David Taber
Plans for the redevelopment of Christ Stamatos’s building at 617-619 Centre St., where his company, Century 21 Pondside Realty, had its offices until a 2006 fire, have ended up significantly scaled back after a Dec. 6 meeting of the Jamaica Pond Association (JPA).
The fire is believed by the Boston Fire Department to be the result of arson. [See related article.]
At a neighborhood meeting in September, Stamatos presented plans to add a full second story to the structure. Concerns expressed by abutters at that meeting about the addition blocking sunlight to the condominium next door led to a new proposal for a partial second floor and 10-foot-wide deck.
“Community folks had taken a look [at the second proposal] and decided that in order to protect the folks next door, they wanted to see some more changes,” said Kevin Moloney, who heads the JPA zoning committee.
The committee said it wanted to see the second floor pulled back even more, and it did not want the porch to be usable, Moloney said.
Edward Forte of Forte Architects, who is designing the project for Stamatos, said Stamatos agreed to pull the second floor back 14 feet beyond the required 10-foot setback. The building’s existing footprint is only three feet from the north property line, almost touching the triple-decker condominium at 609 Centre St.
Stamatos told the Gazette the next step is to bring the new proposal before the JPNC’s zoning committee, but a date for that has not been set.