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A vacant downtown Haverhill property once owned by Lupoli Companies is proposed to be combined with a former dental office as part of a revised plan to build a day care center and apartments.
Davinci Mini Apartments, developer of a proposed childcare center and 12 apartments at 121 Merrimack St., Haverhill, will ask city councilors Tuesday to allow it to withdraw its special permit request while it prepares to buy the adjacent building.
“We are currently in the process of acquiring the adjacent property at 127 Merrimack Street, a building that has been a longstanding eyesore in downtown Haverhill. Our intention is to incorporate 127 Merrimack Street into the overall redevelopment and submit a new, more comprehensive application covering both properties. We believe the combined project will allow us to create a stronger development, address the condition of 127 Merrimack Street, and make a more meaningful improvement to this section of Merrimack Street,” wrote developer Jony N. Perez in an email earlier this month to Haverhill Planning Director Jacki Byerly.
As WHAV began reporting last spring, Perez’s original proposal included a first-floor daycare, allowed by right, and six one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments on the top three floors.
The 1880-era building it plans to buy was used as a construction office by Lupoli Companies when it was building a 10-story glass tower across the street. As WHAV reported first in 2022, a Delaware company, AG Palmdale Real Owners, purchased for $25.7 million “The Heights” at 160 Merrimack St.; 127-133 Merrimack St., a storefront building used as construction offices; 162 Merrimack St.; and 192-194 Merrimack, where Lupoli demolished a building that formerly housed Ocasio’s True Martial Arts and added surface parking.
Perez said he expects to be ready to submit the new application next month.
In other business, city councilors are also expected to hold a hearing to amend the zoning ordinance to regulate the location of any proposed Battery Energy Storage Systems.
As WHAV reported last month, councilors delayed action on an earlier idea while it ranked various sites for a possible overlay district. The Council’s Planning and Development Committee concluded property off Hilldale Avenue rose to the top of the city’s list.
The Haverhill City Council meets Tuesday night at 7 p.m., remotely and in-person at the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, room 202, Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.