Newman Architects
Rendering of the proposed 500 Blake development.
Ocean Management plans to build 129 new apartments and over 7,000 square feet of new commercial space at the site of the long-shuttered 500 Blake Street Cafe in Westville.
Local attorney Jim Segaloff revealed those plans in a site plan, inland wetlands plan, and special permit application that he recently submitted to the City Plan Commission on behalf of his clients 500 Blake Development LLC and 881 Whalley LLC.
Both holding companies are owned by Shmuel Aizenberg, the founder of the large-scale local landlord and property management company Ocean Management. Aizenberg’s companies purchased the half-dozen Blake Street, Whalley Avenue, and Tour Avenue parcels that make up the prospective development site last year from Paula and David Perrotti.
The 500 Blake St. development application was scheduled to be heard during Wednesday night’s regular monthly City Plan Commission meeting — until that meeting was postponed until next Wednesday, March 25, following Mayor Justin Elicker’s indefinite closure of City Hall to the public as part of his state of the emergency declaration surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our department is working with Corp Counsel and regional partners on finalizing a protocol for hosting virtual public meetings,” City Plan Department Planner II Stacey Davis said in an email sent out Tuesday afternoon. “Before the end of this week, we will share instructions for accessing/attending next week’s meeting and submitting testimony that complies with the state’s evolving regulations for hosting virtual public meetings.”
Representatives from Ocean Management did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.
In the project narrative submitted to the City Plan Commission as part of the larger application, Segaloff and the developer lay out the details for the proposed new mixed-use, four-story, 132,643-square-foot complex. Click here to download that narrative and here for several architectural drawings by the local firm Newman Architects.
“In 2006, the 500 Blake Street Café closed its doors after operating at the edge of Westville Village for more than thirty years,” the narrative reads. “Since that time, 500 Blake has stood empty, and the large parking lot to the rear of the property (serving both 500 Blake and the nearby businesses on 881 and 883 Whalley) have been a gaping hole on the edge of the otherwise revitalizing Westville Village.”
The developer hopes to fill that gap with 129 new dwelling units, two commercial uses totaling 7,394 square feet of commercial space, amenities and parking.
According to the architectural documents, the finished project will contain six efficiency units, 44 studio apartment, 55 one-bedroom apartments, and 24 two-bedroom apartments.
“First-floor uses will be limited to areas fronting on Blake Street and Tour Avenue,” the narrative reads. “Along Blake Street, it is intended that the new construction will feature an approximately 3,900-square-foot restaurant and, closer to the river, an approximately 3,400-square-foot retail space expected to house a small market. This market would include an outdoor seating area next to the existing boardwalk, allowing customers to enjoy the adjacent flowing river and adding to the vitality of the Blake Street frontage.
“Along the Tour Avenue frontage, and in recognition of the much smaller-scale neighborhood between Tour and West Rock Avenue, such intensive commercial activities are not proposed. Instead, six of the dwelling units will be designed as guest suites, primarily for temporary use by guests of building tenants such as friends, relatives, and other visitors. This quieter use of the first floor along Tour Avenue will complement the more laid-back neighborhood of the Tour-West Rock block compared to the busier Whalley Avenue and Blake Street frontages.”