entering natick sign

entering natick sign

Natick Report

More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.

  • Subscribe to daily email
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Eat
  • Schools
  • Summer Camp
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Redhawks sports schedule & results
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Events
  • Kids
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Top 10 things to do
  • The Swellesley Report
  • Beyond Natick
  • History
  • Government
  • Seniors
  • Support independent journalism
  • Natick Nest articles
  • Fire & police scanner
  • Town Election 2023


Natick sticks with chain link fence instead of pop-up hamlet at 1 South Main

February 20, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

When I first sat down to review the Feb. 17 Natick Planning Board meeting to learn the latest about developer Stuart Rothman’s proposed “pop-up hamlet” for his property at 1 South Main St., in Natick Center, I started fast forwarding through the recording and was struck by Mr. Rothman’s body language. He seemingly couldn’t stop shaking his head, and rubbing his hands through his hair and across his face: This fidgetiness couldn’t be a good sign.

Update (March 4, 2021): Natick Center pop-up hamlet at 1 South Main Street makes a comeback

As it turns out it wasn’t. After saying a couple of times during the meeting that he would pull his plans, then deciding at the end of the public hearing that he would sleep on it, Rothman did indeed pull his plans to develop the prominent site, which has stood vacant since the devastating fire in the summer of 2019 burnt down the previous structure (an updated MetroWest Daily News story includes an update on Rothman’s letter sent to the town after the Planning meeting). During the hearing, the Planning Board’s 3-2 vote in favor of the plan proved not decisive enough to allow the plan to move proceed immediately.

The issue for one Planning Board member was the slope of a sidewalk along the property and concerns about Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, while another member had general concerns with the long-term prospects for the one-story building, which would be designed for small artist and other shops that Rothman said would be affordable to those who can’t handle $2K per month rents elsewhere in the area. It was only about a month ago, at the Jan. 6 Planning Board meeting, when Rothman sprang his vision for the 5,342 sq. ft. pop-up village with an inner courtyard (tune in at about half hour mark of the Natick Pegasus recording). He vowed this past week that the project would be ADA compliant, though resisted wording he said might have required him to spend $80K fixing sidewalks, and then maybe ultimately more on street work (it’s not uncommon for municipalities to work with developers to upgrade sidewalks).

one south main street plan

About 20 minutes into the meeting, Rothman said the 3-2 vote basically killed the project, and that he was comfortable with this. He described this as a “very tight” building with little room for additional costs. Later on he said he’s got so many projects going on right now that “my head is crashing…I don’t need to do this… I wanted to do this so badly….I can live with life, I’m  going to go to sleep tonight, I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning, and we’re all going to go on.”

About 90 minutes into the meeting, Rothman expressed his exasperation with Planning Board Julian Munnich’s concerns about the sidewalk grade and what he described as an inconsistent approach to assessing the downtown project. “This is not the way you treat developers,” he said.

Give credit to Chair Terri Evans, who appeared close to pulling out a dramatic save after more than an hour of dramatic debate and testimony at the meeting, one of many that Rothman and team have participated in over the past couple of years. He earlier dropped a plan that would have brought a two-story mixed use building to the block featuring apartments and businesses.

After Rothman’s first acknowledgement (using his best indoor voice) early on in the meeting that the plan might be kaput, Evans offered: “Let me just think because I think we’ve put i an awful lot of work all corners on this and I’d like to think we can make this work.”

About an 90 minutes into the meeting Evans came back with: “I don’t want to give up on this project,” suggesting that the public hearing be continued until March 3 so that work could be done on rewording language on an agreement. “It would be somewhere beyond a shame,” if the deal fell through, she said, in that it would be “an economic disappointment for the town” and for the cultural and business potential it would have.

Now in light of Rothman’s decision not to move forward with this plan, there will be no pop-up hamlet at the 1 Main Street, just a chain link fence adorned with some Walnut Hill marketing materials and artwork.

As Planning Board member Andy Meyer stated during the meeting: “It would just be almost a farce if we were to screw this up at this point in time given how close we are…I can’t even tell you how embarrassing it would be for all parties involved if we can’t get this over the goal line.”

Natick Center fire site spring


Subscribe to our Natick Report daily email

Filed Under: Business, Government, Real estate

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Advertisements





Tip us off!

Please send news tips, photos, ideas to natickreport@gmail.com

If you’d like to contribute $ to support our independent journalism venture, please do….

Advertisements

Categories

  • Animals
  • Art
  • Bacon Free Library
  • Beyond Natick
  • Books
  • Boston Marathon
  • Business
  • Camps
  • Charity/Fundraising
  • Charles River dam
  • Community
  • Construction
  • COVID-19
  • Education
  • Election
  • Embracing diversity
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Fashion
  • Firefighters
  • Food
  • Gardens
  • Government
  • Health
  • History
  • Holidays
  • Kids
  • Letters to the editor
  • Media
  • Military
  • Morse Institute Library
  • Music
  • Natick Election 2022
  • Natick Historical Society
  • Natick History Museum
  • Natick Nest
  • Natick track
  • Neighbors
  • Obituaries & remembrances
  • Opinion
  • Outdoors
  • Parents
  • Police & crime
  • Real estate
  • Recycling Center
  • Religion
  • Restaurants
  • Schools
  • Seniors
  • Shopping
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Theater
  • Town election 2021
  • Town Election 2023
  • Transportation
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Vacation
  • Veterans
  • Volunteering
  • Voting
  • Weather
lion publishers
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Get our email newsletter

* indicates required
Our newsletter is free, though we gladly accept contributions to support our work.

Most Read Posts

  • '60 Minutes' segment on Natick couple's harassment by eBay execs airing Sunday, March 26
  • One high school student’s push to save Natick ballroom hidden in plain sight
  • Sign up now for summer camp in Natick (and beyond)
  • Natick's Wilson Middle school enriched with cafeteria composting program
  • Level99 expanding beyond Natick into... Providence

Click image to read The Swellesley Report

The Swellesley Report

Upcoming Events

Apr 1
11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Fair in the Square, Wellesley

Apr 11
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Online meeting to address flooding in Natick

Apr 29
6:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Metrowest Rocks concert to benefit Actor’s Company of Natick

May 20
10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Supercar show

View Calendar

Pages

  • Letters to the editor on Natick Report
  • Guidelines for Natick Report letters to the editor
  • Natick election 2023—guidelines for promoting candidates and ballot questions
  • Natick’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners
  • Natick, Massachusetts libraries
  • Comment Policy
  • Bacon Free Library in Natick, hours for winter 2023
  • Morse Institute Library in Natick—hours for winter 2023
  • Resources for seniors in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick Report corrections policy
  • Scenic Roads in Natick
  • Where to stay in Natick, Mass. (hotels, inns)
  • Private Schools in Natick (and beyond)
  • Natick Summer Camps (and beyond)
  • Where to eat in Natick, Mass: more that 70 dining options
  • Natick, Mass., history
  • Natick government
  • Natick No-Nos
  • Embracing diversity in Natick
  • Where to worship in Natick
  • Kid stuff (sports, clubs, activities in Natick, Mass.)
  • Contribute to Natick Report
  • Natick Little Free Libraries
  • Natick public schools
  • Where to sled in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick COVID-19 & vaccine news
  • Natick’s zip code & post offices
  • Natick charitable and community action groups
  • Top 10 things to do in Natick, Mass.
  • Natick Arts/Entertainment
  • About Natick Report
  • Advertise on Natick Report
  • Natick rules: Chickens yes, roosters no
  • Natick Election 2023, political candidates advertising
  • Natick election 2022—candidate interviews

© 2023 Natick Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login