554-556 Franklin Street Development Under Zoning Review
By Ellen Putnam
The single-family house currently located at 554 Franklin Street
Plans for a new development at 554-556 Franklin Street in the Melrose Highlands went before the city's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) last week. The developers plan to build a five-story apartment building featuring 60 units, which would be a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, along with 45 covered parking spaces on the first floor. The development would replace a single-family home that currently houses a dentist’s office.
554-556 Franklin Street is the latest project by Szecon Development, which is owned by Sean and Laura Szekely, former residents of Melrose who built two subdivisions near Swains Pond and have now turned to building larger apartment complexes. Their plans for 164 Essex Street (which will replace an overflow parking lot for MelroseWakefield Hospital, and is listed on their website with a completion date of December 2026) and 28 Greenwood Street (which will be built into the hillside and incorporate a historic house) have already been approved by the city.
The application for 554-556 Franklin Street is being filed under state statute Chapter 40B, which allows projects with a certain ratio of affordable units to go through a single, streamlined plan approval process with the ZBA. Fifteen, or 25%, of the units in the 554-556 Franklin Street project will be deed-restricted units intended to be affordable to families making 80% of area median income.
This will be one of several new residential developments in the Melrose Highlands area. “The Ella,” at 453 Franklin Street, is almost complete. In addition to the 28 Greenwood Street project, plans have been approved, although construction has not yet begun, for projects at 521-529 Franklin Street (the T’ahpas 529 building) and at 14 Chipman Avenue (the VFW building).
Plans for 554-556 Franklin Street
Rendering by O'Sullivan Architects, Inc
The 554-556 Franklin Street building will feature a rooftop solar array and all-electric heating. It is currently planned to be all-residential, although members of the ZBA suggested that some parking on the first floor could be removed in order to add a storefront. The lot is zoned for residential only, but the ZBA could grant an exemption if there were widespread support from the neighbors.
Mayor Jen Grigoraitis expressed her support for the project in a letter, stating, “The addition of 60 units to the City’s housing stock, and the inclusion of fifteen deed-restricted affordable units, is an extremely valuable contribution to our critically low supply of housing. We also recognize the positive fiscal impacts of this development and welcome the economic activity that the addition of residential units will bring to our many small, local businesses.”
Grigoriatis also provided feedback in her letter, suggesting that the building’s design should blend in better with the neighborhood. She noted that a stretch of city-owned land that is located between the neighboring municipal driveway and this lot “needs to be considered for its best use and improved, as it will be affected by the project.”
This strip of city-owned land currently has some trees and shrubs on it. The developer presented plans to add a loading area and four publicly accessible parking spaces with EV chargers to this part of the lot, which will be partly on city land. The developer plans to locate the building’s vehicle entrance on this driveway, to avoid feeding more cars onto Franklin Street.
Entrance to the municipal driveway adjacent to 554 Franklin Street
One ZBA member expressed concern that “the underutilized zone that we’re trying to use as maybe an amenity or a buffer is being turned into parking spots and loading for the building, and the project is using up every square inch of the site. It relies heavily on the municipal lot to service the building - trash, entering the loading area, entering the parking lot - it’s doing a lot.” The driveway leading into the municipal lot is narrow, with poor visibility from angled parking spaces, and feeds onto Belmont Street, which is a one-way street.
Ward 1 City Councilor Manjula Karamcheti, who attended the meeting, added, “Given that the municipal lot will actually end up serving this building more than the residents of the neighborhood, I feel that the use of the city land should be looked at in some way, shape, or form.”
The building's 45 parking spaces will be rented separately from the units. The developers’ traffic engineer noted that many residents of the Highlands area use public transportation, walking, and biking instead of cars, and 25% of the population work from home most of the time. This could suggest that having fewer parking spaces available than units in the building would be sufficient. The traffic engineer also presented data suggesting that the development would not add significantly to traffic in the area.
Neighbors challenged the assumption that not every new resident would bring a car with them. “You have to have a car in Melrose Highlands,” said one neighbor, “The commuter rail and the 131 bus are insufficient. People will drive, and that will mean more traffic in the neighborhood.”
Aerial view of the surrounding area surrounding, with 554-556 Franklin Street highlighted in yellow
From Szecon Development
Residents also pointed out that, while the development might not add significantly to overall traffic in the area, it would increase traffic going into the municipal driveway. The driveway is directly across from Greenwood Street, which already gets backed up during busy times. The city’s Department of Public Works (DPW) performed a traffic study at this intersection and determined that it did not have enough traffic to warrant putting in a traffic signal.
“It’s really hard to pull out of Greenwood most of the day because those are busy streets,” said one neighbor, “so cars typically zoom out to do that, and that’s a heavy pedestrian walking space.”
Franklin Street and the surrounding neighborhood have been the focus of a number of discussions related to traffic safety concerns in recent months. The developers of 554-556 have expressed their willingness to work with the DPW to pay for traffic calming measures around the site, including, potentially, a raised crosswalk at Franklin Street and Greenwood Street.
Karamcheti commented that, while she appreciated the developers’ stated commitment to improving pedestrian safety in the area, “cars are backed up on Greenwood Street already, people are taking unsafe turns, and adding this building and its entrance to that mix of that intersection is very concerning to me. Someone was recently hit, and we’ve had fatalities there.”
Neighbors also expressed concerns about the size of the development: while two other buildings that have been approved in the area will also be five stories tall, most of the existing buildings in the neighborhood are three stories or less. One neighbor called the design “extreme.”
“There are apartment buildings going up everywhere in the neighborhood,” reflected one neighbor. “I feel torn, because I know that people need somewhere to live, but it’s a lot for one small area.”
The ZBA will hold their next hearing on the 554-556 Franklin Street development on July 16th. The public is encouraged to email the ZBA with their comments at appeals@cityofmelrose.org or attend the remote meeting to share their thoughts.