The Mint, a 116-unit rental building on Monroe Street, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday Jan. 17 to mark the opening of the new development.
City officials will join representatives from joint-venture partners Fields Development Group and Slokker Real Estate Group for the ceremony, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m., followed by tours for city officials and media. UPDATE: The ribbon-cutting ceremony has been postponed until further notice.
Dec. 4 UPDATE: Redevelopment Director Robert Landolfi said at tonight’s Redevelopment Agency meeting that the ceremony has been rescheduled for Jan. 17.
The Mint, located at 81 Monroe St., is the first phase of a two-building project at Main and Monroe streets. The five-story project will have a total of 116 rental apartments — 57 one-bedrooms, 35 two-bedrooms, and 24 studios — with a ground floor comprised of 119 parking spaces. There also will be about 2,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space along Main Street. The project includes extending Monroe Street across Main Street to connect it to East Cherry Street.
A second building, phase two, is expected to begin construction after completion of the first phase. The 84-unit second building would be built on the corner of Poplar Street. and include about 2,500 square feet of ground-floor retail across two spaces as well as 106 parking spaces across two levels The second building also could see another 16 units added to the 84 if the Redevelopment Agency agrees to the increase. The Planning Board approved both buildings as part of one application in 2015, with a total of 208 units.
The entire development ultimately will pay about $360,000 in the first year of its 30-year Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreement approved by the city in 2014. Payments will increase about 3 percent annually.
The project, also known as Dornoch II and Main & Monroe during the planning process, was constructed in space that previously was occupied by the Parking Authority’s Lot B, a 55-space surface parking lot, and several storefronts along Main Street. The area around Main Street and Lot B had long been eyed for redevelopment as part of the city’s downtown redevelopment plan. Previous developers had acquired and razed several Main Street buildings before the real estate market crash in 2008.
