SALEM — Developers of the former St. Joseph Church property are in talks with a national pharmacy chain, hoping to jump-start a stalled plan to build a 67-unit affordable housing complex in The Point.
The retailer would occupy the first floor of the building, with condos and apartments on the upper floors.
"There's a drugstore chain that's interested in the site," said Mayor Kim Driscoll, who declined to name the chain. "But I think we're looking for any type of retail use. It still remains to be seen what will actually go there."
The project has been idle since the City Council rejected a proposed senior center at the old church last year.
"I think they've been trying to find ways to move the development forward," Driscoll said of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, the nonprofit development arm of the Boston Archdiocese that has proposed the project. "But it needs a partner to make that work."
Lisa Alberghini, the developer's executive director, did not return messages seeking comment.
"They're in negotiations with a retail chain," said Ward 1 City Councilor Robert McCarthy, whose ward includes St. Joseph Church. "With the Community Life Center out of the picture, they're looking for something to anchor the first floor."
Bringing a retailer into the project, however, still requires approval from the City Council because the property would first have to be rezoned to allow commercial use.
Specifically, the city would have to extend the downtown central development district one block from Harbor Street, where it now ends, to the church property at Lafayette and Dow streets. Doing so would allow both condos and shops on the property.
"From a planning perspective, I think it makes sense," City Planner Lynn Duncan said. "It provides flexibility and redevelopment of that site, which is definitely in keeping with the character of the neighborhood."
"I think it would give it some renewed life there," said Lucy Corchado, the president of the Point Neighborhood Association and a former Ward 1 councilor. "It's a busy area. You have businesses just feet away. The street is lined with business, so I think it would be just a continuation of that. I see it as a positive."
Not everyone sees it that way.
Local attorney John Carr, who is fighting the church redevelopment in court on behalf of about 40 plaintiffs, wondered why the city needs another pharmacy just a few blocks away from a Walgreens in the downtown. He also questioned the potential traffic impact.
"Presumably the reason a drugstore chain wants to go in there is for high volume," Carr said. "It's a three-way intersection, one of the busiest and most dangerous in the city. For that kind of use on top of the proposed residential use is a combustible combination."
Duncan said traffic impact studies will be conducted and that there's a chance congestion could be eased by requiring the developer to implement traffic-control measures.
The property has sat vacant since the church closed in 2004. It's frequently been the target of vandals, and Corchado said she received a call just yesterday from a Point resident complaining about chronic loitering and drinking on the site.
Driscoll hopes that will dissipate if the retooled project comes alive.
"Having activity on that site will be the best thing to help with any public safety concerns," Driscoll said.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at 978-338-2526 or by e-mail at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
