Chris Helms
632-638 Centre St., Monday, March 9, 2015.
The would-be developer of 632-638 Centre St. plans to withdraw the proposal he has before the city's zoning bureaucracy. Instead, Andrew M. Zuroff plans a project that fits within existing zoning rules. In city lingo, that's "as of right."
Zuroff had floated razing the one-story building 632-638 Centre St. and transforming the plot into a four-story mixed use development. But after three meetings with neighbors, he will instead withdraw his current plans and build within what's allowed without a variance from zoning regulations, said attorney Kyle Smith, who represents Zuroff on the project.
"He hasn't committed to one thing or another," Smith said in a phone interview, "but he won't be building beyond what the zoning code provides."
For the 632-638 Centre St. property, which is in central JP's business district, the code allows a building up to 45 feet high. That's roughly four stories.
Smith, who also serves on the JP Neighborhood Council, said zoning for the stretch hasn't been updated since 1993.
The building's owner, CBG Realty LLC, was scheduled to argue for variances from zoning rules on Tuesday at City Hall. Instead, Smith plans to inform the Zoning Board his client is withdrawing his proposal.
According to the Board of Appeals notice, the mixed-use building would have had retail on the ground floor, offices and residential on the second floor and residential units on the third and fourth floors. A total of 15 units were envisioned under the scotched proposal.
The building currently houses the accounting offices for Zuroff, who is listed on the state's corporations database as manager of CBG Realty.
Depending on how tall it would be built, the building could become the tallest non-church building in the Centre/South corridor.