A Salem, N.H., company that recently won permission to convert a Bradford funeral home into condominiums, seeks City Council approval tonight to make a similar conversion to a once affiliated home on Kenoza Avenue.
Mazraany Construction proposes to convert the current Grondin-Carnevale Funeral Home, 125-129 Kenoza Ave., into seven housing units. If approved, the building’s decades-long history as a prominent Irish funeral home comes to a close.
In 1954, four years after graduating from Haverhill High School, John J. Linnehan served as manager and director of his father’s C. Frank Linnehan and Son Funeral home. The younger Linnehan took over the business completely in 1973 and operated it until his death at age 75 in 2008. Between 1962 and 1965, Linnehan served as special assistant to the administrator of U.S. Small Business Administration under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
The Linnehans eventually bought the Noonan Funeral Home, 52 Salem St. Both homes were sold to what became Grondin-Carnevale and now to the developer.
Mazraany proposes to convert the Kenoza Avenue house into four units and build another three on adjacent vacant space on the property. The developer originally planned eight condominiums, which is allowed by current zoning density rules, but reduced it to seven at the request of neighbors. There will be 15 parking spaces.
At the end of April, Mazraany Construction won Council permission to convert the Bradford home into two units and the garage into a third unit.
The Haverhill City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m., online and in the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, Room 202, City Hall, 4 Summer St. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.