Gateway Gets Thumbs Up

Thegot three looks at the Gateway Building on Monday.

First, they saw a historical photograph circa 1900.

Then, architectural drawings showed the single-story building at night.

Finally, they saw it from .

In the end they liked what they saw. At least enough so to approve the site plan application for the Humphrey Street building, granting Jayne Orloff-Carey a permit to rebuild.

It will stand where the former Gateway Building stood. It burned on March 1.

The approval comes with a condition. Owners must meet with a group of parents whose children attend Hadley School, said board Chairman Pat Jones.

The owners will field questions from the group and possibly incorporate their suggestions.

At Monday's meeting parents raised several concerns. Among them was the appearance at the building's back; and a transformer's location on the site.

Board and audience members reviewed the building's lighting and materials. 

"We are concerned because it is a focal point of the community," Jones said.

The building will be one of the first sights people see as they enter town from Lynn Shore Drive.

The building will be prominent for Monument Avenue travelers heading to Burrill and Humphrey, as well. 

Its lighting will include recessed fixtures on the underside of the eaves and goosenecks.

Materials will include masonry at the base, lots of glass for ocean views, as well as clapboards and metal. It will be topped with a cupola.

The commercial property could accommodate six businesses of 600 to 800 square feet each, though units could be combined if that is what a tenant wanted.

Jayne Orloff-Carey said earlier that the she hoped the new structure would be built by spring with tenants in place by next summer.

The owners will be building on the original footprint, Carey said, but t will not rise to its original three stories.

It also will not house residential tenants, as it did before.