A proposed development by Greg Antonelli where he hopes to place 30 units of new residential housing at a site on 295 Chelsea Street has inspired the ire of the abutters, the Mastrocola Family.
The property is behind the Taco Bell on the Parkway, which is adjacent to the Mastrocola Building where a number of business offices are located including the Mastrocola Insurance Agency.
The Mastrocolas have circulated a petition opposing the project.
On its face, we do not oppose the project as it is proposed for one of the most densely populated business and residential areas of the city and close to significant road connections where huge residential projects have been completed recently.
The proposed development property is a double lot, and many such lots in this city have already been developed or are in the process of being developed with added density, parking requirements and open space requirements all up for grabs in the modern Everett growing up all around us.
We respect the Mastrocolas as friends and as businesspeople here. They do the right thing with their real estate developments in the city. They should be listened to carefully about their concerns.
Antonelli is cut from the same cloth. He knows what he is doing and left to his own, a strict aesthetic will be followed on this project as he has done with many others in Everett over the years.
He, too, should be listened to carefully.
In the end, the city must not pay attention to individual personalities and city history with these two families who appear to be competing. What matters is that the right thing is done to sustain development here, especially in a quadrant of the city where development of all kinds is now going on within a stone’s throw of this proposed project.
The Mastrocola’s and the Antonelli’s need to come to terms with just the right solution to make everyone happy with this proposed project. What is good for the Antonelli’s also benefits the Mastrocola’s in the end.
More better development, more significant development here builds a better city. Such a development makes land and buildings worth more for all the abutters.
We urge the city to rule on merit.