Rentals, offices and shops proposed for empty former Epicure block on Alton Road
The 1680 Alton plan would add about 146 rental apartments, 51,000 square feet of offices and 45,000 square feet of retail between Lincoln Road and 17th Street.
The long-empty block on the west side of Alton Road between Lincoln Road and 17th Street, once home to Epicure Market, Ace Hardware and Crunch Fitness, would become a mixed-use project with rental apartments, offices and shops under an application set for the city Planning Board on Dec. 8.
The project, called 1680 Alton, would cover 1656-1680 Alton Road and 1677 West Avenue, according to a letter of intent filed Oct. 4 by attorney Neisen Kasdin on behalf of Alton Ventures Development LLC and Alton Jal, Inc. The letter says the businesses on the block closed nearly ten years ago and that the property is now vacant. The owners’ assemblage also includes 1209 and 1245 Lincoln Road, but new construction is proposed only on the Alton Road and West Avenue parcels.
What’s planned
- Apartments: 146 rental units, from junior one-bedrooms to three-bedrooms. (One passage of the letter says about 142.) Under the city’s Alton City Center Overlay, adopted Sept. 10, the units must stay rentals for 20 years, with leases of at least a year for 30 years.
- Retail: about 45,300 square feet on the first two floors, aimed at neighborhood and “lifestyle” tenants.
- Offices: about 51,200 square feet across five floors, with a separate lobby.
- Parking: 364 spaces, valet-operated, in surface parking at 1677 West Avenue and garage levels three through five. The letter says residents could use spare spaces at public parking rates outside business hours.
- Public spaces: a covered breezeway from West Avenue through Alton Court to Alton Road, with outdoor dining, a public padel court, a micromobility station and a wellness space open to the public.
Deliveries and trash pickup would use six loading bays off the Alton Court alley during daytime hours, the letter says. The building is designed by Platt Byard Dovell White Architects.
What the board decides
Because of its size, the project is a “neighborhood impact structure,” which needs a conditional use permit from the Planning Board. The letter does not give the building’s height; the plans are in the application file.
The Planning Board meets at 9 a.m. Dec. 8 at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive. Application files are on the city’s meeting portal.
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