News
APARTMENT BOOM BOON
June 21, 2011
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| Tocci Building Co's VJ Tocci (right), here with Angelo Syrniotis(saving their plans from a strong gust of wind), says the multifamily boom has helped create a market for restored historic mill buildings, even out on Rte 495 in Westford where he's converting Abbot Mills into 134 market rate apartments for Yule Development. Built in segments over decades, the 19th century mill has unique spaces adorned with hand-crafted features. It might cost twice as much to build new today, if a developer could find the skilled trades people needed. In doing the $23M Abbot job and other historic conversions, VJ says that the one-of-a-kind elements, sometimes hidden by prior renovations, inject a lot of unknowns into the construction process that can be headaches or opportunities. Tocci started construction in January and expects to finish in early '12. |
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| VJ tells us that Tocci will replicate 370 windows with aluminum frames and restore 30 original windows. A restoration carpenter will strip the paint, repair damage, restore the hardware, and re-balance and install the windows. The brick walls and corbelled brick detailing is being sandblasted and then sealed. On Friday, the specialized carpenter and developer Chris Yule walked the site and decided they could reuse the clerestory windows to create drama in the apartments. They salvaged the undamaged glass and after cleaning the wood frames found them to be in excellent condition. Once revitalized, VJ says the clerestory will be good for ?another 100 years.? (We'll leave a note for our kids' kids' kids.) |
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| We snapped Joe Ferolito and Joe Cavallaro working on the adaptive reuse of Monarch Lofts in Lawrence into 203 apartments, a $21.5M construction project. A 400k SF section of the old Wood Mill, Tocci started construction in February and will complete it in December. Joe Ferolito says that developer MassInnovation will make a big upfront investment to create a green building. He'll install high-performance insulation and a geothermal heating and cooling system by digging wells and equipping them to draw water from 750 feet underground. The former textile mill has 20-foot ceilings and had a 75-foot high lobby for which they built new floors and elevator shaft to serve them. Bringing a 150-year-old building up to code is challenging but, Joe says, allows them to build something truly unique. |
