Cummings Center files plans for more development

Author: Kathleen McLaughlin, News Staff Date: 02/02/01 Page: A5 Section: Beverly

By KATHLEEN McLAUGHLIN

News staff

BEVERLY -- The Cummings Center appears to provide enough parking to meet city zoning requirements, but won't have much room for expansion without new garages, Building Inspector Timothy Brennan said.

"It's fairly close," Brennan said earlier this week.

City zoning laws require a certain number of parking spaces per area of office, research and development or manufacturing space. Brennan said he reviewed plans of the site about six months ago, when Cummings representatives planned to fill a courtyard in the main building, No. 100.

Now that Cummings has filed plans for a new three-story office building and a second parking garage, the entire site will be checked for compliance again at the request of the Planning Board.

"That's one of the reasons I asked," said board member John Thomson. "They're really pushing the envelope of space on that property."

The new east-side garage on Elliott Street won't serve the new building, No. 400, which will be west of the parking lot on Balch Street. The Balch Street area will have 183 extra spaces, as Cummings plans to pave vacant lots in the northwest portion of the site to serve No. 400 and a previously approved building, No. 500, alongside the Upper Shoe Pond.

Even before the latest plans reached the board, Citizens for a Liveable Beverly member Toni Musante doubted Cummings could meet the parking requirement. She and other observers were baffled at how Cummings could provide parking for two expansions.

"We always said that we would ... provide enough parking to satisfy needs of park," architect Bruce Oveson said. Although Cummings has an incentive to keep its tenants happy, the original complex doesn't have to meet today's requirements.

A provision of the zoning law for buildings that pre-date parking requirements accepts parking as-is. So-called "grandfathering" would allow Cummings to convert the industrial-office complex entirely to office without providing more parking, Oveson said. That's an extreme example, however, and Cummings continues to hope state environmental regulators will OK a third garage, which would more conveniently serve the main building.

Zoning rules call for one space per 250 square feet of office, 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of research and development and 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of manufacturing.

Building No. 500 requires 481 spaces, No. 400 requires 364 spaces and the Balch Street YMCA building requires 72 spaces.

Based on the current mix of uses, Oveson figures half of each building will be office, 35 percent research and 15 percent manufacturing. That's a "historical average," he said. As different types of businesses come and go, he said the net effect is the same.

In building No. 800, for example, the Greater Salem Visiting Nurses Association in October built its offices in a former warehouse space. The warehouse tenant moved to a different place in the center, Oveson said.

Even without grandfathering, Cummings could have met the parking requirement, Brennan said. And he said it helps that former dirt lots were paved. "It would have been close."

Rules for the center's general industrial zone also leave room for expansion by 25 percent without increased parking. Brennan checked for compliance with that rule about six months ago, when Cummings added three stories to an enclosed courtyard within the main building, which is 1.26 million square feet.

Cummings demolished about 36,500 square feet of the groundscraper and added 148,000 square feet -- including the filled-in courtyard, Brennan said. That means Cummings has about 121,000 square feet of wiggle room before more parking would be required on the main lot, he said.

General manager Gerry McSweeney objects to any implication that the 1.5 million-square-foot office complex lacks abundant parking. There are "hundreds, literally hundreds" of empty spaces available throughout the day, he said.

That's true, even at mid-day. Most of them are found in the far northwest corner of the campus, or on the upper levels of the McKay Street parking garage.

But inevitably, not every worker can park as close as possible.

"I guess there's enough if you go out far enough in the lot," said Steve Pipes, who works at Habama. Most of his co-workers park in the garage, he said, and he arrives well before 8:30 a.m., so parking isn't a major complaint.

Marco Aurilio, who also arrives in the afternoon, however, said he's never had a problem finding a spot. He works at Natural Pharmaceuticals in the main building, and he said parking just isn't a source of complaints in the office.

The sea of cars can be daunting on a first visit, said Bonnie Burgess. "I was watching everybody walk and I thought, 'This is going to stink'," she said while visiting for the first time this week to make a deposit at her bank. As it turned out, she said she easily found a two-hour space near the front doors.