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Sale of WRA building downtown needs lift
By JIM HAGGERTY news@woburnonline.com

WOBURN - A building at the Busy Bend in Woburn Center opposite Woburn Common has survived in the city for two centuries without an elevator but now must have two of them: one to go up, one to go down!

The Woburn Redevelopment Authority is in its 11th hour of the sale of the one-story building at 371 Main St. to the Leo Realty Holdings, LLC.

The building will house a restaurant (Time-Out and owner Anthony Contarino of Woburn) on two floors (a main floor and a cellar area, as well as town-house style housing units on Floors 2 and 3.

The WRA, which represents the city of Woburn in this case, has agreed with the city's Handicapped Commission awhile ago to put a vertical elevator from Citizens Park to the Walnut Hill municipal parking area.

Now, the restaurant interests of Nicholas and Vincent R. Leo of Cambridge, who own the Dunkin' Donuts complex just up the street at 409 Main St., want access to the cellar area for restaurant seating and party groups. This means a chairlift-styled elevator must be installed to go from the first floor to the cellar.

The WRA is very reluctant to get into any type of relationship, either temporary or in perpetuity, with an elevator servicing just the restaurant alone. The city of Woburn will assume the building cost (come from the sale of the property) and will maintain the vertical elevator to the municipal hill lot in the future.

WRA Chairman Donald Queenin said at last night's meeting he's optimistic the project is "ready to go."

WRA member Richard Miliano felt that maybe the WRA should cut itself some slack and push for a November sale rather than an October 30 date. Executive Director Donald Borchelt, however, felt it was the best course of action "to keep it all on schedule."

Borchelt requested the five-member WRA to extend from this month to October 30 in order to get approval from the state's Dept. of Public Safety's "Architectural Access Board" for a variance "on the grounds that literal compliance with the board's regulations is impracticable in my case."

At the last WRA meeting, it was pointed out that as a condition of the sale by the WRA, the new owner will provide "a barrier free pathway for the general public connecting the municipal lot to the sidewalk grade, through the construction of a public elevator and ramp which will be attached to the building."

The vertical elevator would take the public 14 feet up from the 5,500 square foot Citizens Park (John "Jack" Marlowe Park).

Holding up the process is the handicapped access to the below grade floor of the restaurant in compliance with Section 17 o f the state's building code and enforced by the Architectural Access Board. And, on the issue of bathrooms, there will be one handicapped accessible mens/women's facility in the cellar area.

The United Elevator Co., Inc. of North Scituate has provided a $22,938 estimate to install the "vertical platform wheelchair lift."

According to additional laws governed by the Dept. of Public Safety's Elevator Division, the chairlift must be maintained in good working condition with quarterly maintenance to meet requirements.

According to the WRA, approval by the state would open the door to the sale and the issuance of a building permit by the city of Woburn.

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© 2000 Woburn Daily Times Inc.