The Melrose Messenger

New Plans for Caruso’s Building Go Before Planning Board

By Patrick DeVivo

A long-awaited plan to redevelop 681-697 Main Street, better known as the Caruso’s building, was presented to the Melrose Planning Board last Monday evening, July 28th.

The plans call for a four-story mixed-use building with space for a restaurant and retail shops on the first floor, office space on the second floor, and 16 studio or one-bedroom residential units, three of which would be designated as affordable housing, on the third and fourth floors.

This building would replace the current one-story building, which used to house several storefronts, including Pond View Barber Shop (now across the street at the rear of 786 Main), Morgan Jewelers (now 1100 Main Street in Wakefield), a nail salon, a psychic, and, of course, Caruso’s Pizzeria.

Even with several prominent building projects in the city currently at various stages of approval and construction, revival of the Caruso project has been of particular community interest and speculation because of the length of time the property has been vacant and its prominence as a gateway to downtown Melrose and the city’s historic district.

This site became available for development in 2010 upon the passing of Michele Caruso, the owner of the property and long-time proprietor of Caruso’s Pizzeria. The pizzeria, which Caruso had operated since the 1960s, closed at the time of his death.

Caruso was a colorful and generous presence in Melrose for many years, often hosting end-of-season parties for youth sports teams. In the years immediately following his death, the Caruso family, which has owned and operated Italian restaurants in Stoneham, Watertown, and Wakefield, suggested that they would reopen the Melrose pizzeria with minimal changes to the venue and its offerings, including Michele Caruso’s patented Zazza Pizza.

However, probate issues delayed the resolution of the estate for several years. There was further delay when chemical contamination from a dry cleaner that was previously located on the site was discovered, an issue that was not resolved until 2017.

In 2018, Luigi Fusco, one of Caruso’s nephews and heirs, bought out the other heirs. Since that time, several developers have been involved in discussions with Fusco and the city about this prime location. The other businesses on the site, including Pond View Barber Shop and Morgan Jewelers, eventually relocated. In the intervening years, the condition of the building deteriorated and many residents now view it as an eyesore.

Then, in 2022, the Planning Board approved plans for a four-story mixed-use building on the site with 18 residential units on the top three floors. That proposed building had a modern appearance that some people at the time did not believe was consistent with the neighborhood.

Now Ted Lantzakis, who owns and has previously developed other buildings in Melrose, has drawn up and presented this new set of plans, which require approval from the Planning Board. The project will also require approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals for higher density and smaller setbacks than are typically permitted in this area of the city.

One question about the new proposal is whether it resolves the design issues of the previous one and will result in a building that is more compatible with the rest of the neighborhood.

“I didn’t think that the previous design really fit into the existing streetscape,” said the current project’s architect at last week’s meeting, “but I think this one does a pretty nice job of that.”

The building, which will include both restaurant and retail space, has the potential to create more foot traffic in this area of Main Street, which is quieter than the busy and pedestrian-friendly downtown area.

“Things tend to peter out farther down Main Street,” reflected Planning Board member Brian Gregory.

“This will be a real draw,” added Planning Board member Carla Morelli.

One of the obstacles to developing the lot is a deteriorating city-owned culvert that runs underneath the building. The culvert is decades-old and runs from Ell Pond into the Malden River. The developers, in partnership with the city, have secured a MassWorks grant from the state to pay for restructuring, strengthening, and slightly relocating the culvert.

“It’s really been a collaborative project to get to this point,” said City Planner Lori Massa. “We’re supportive of this project, and we’ll continue to work through to make sure that all of the details are fleshed out through this process.”

“We’re trying to do the work on the culvert before winter,” the project’s architect said, “so we can demolish the building and leave the site ready to build in the spring.”

The presence of the culvert eliminates the possibility of building underground parking, and the size and shape of the lot would make adding ground-floor parking challenging, if not impossible. Neither the 2022 proposal nor the current one would include on-site parking.

The lack of on-site parking is likely to be a point of controversy in community discussion of the plans. One public commenter who runs a business nearby expressed concern about the parking situation, noting that people who aren’t customers already park in his business' small lot.

The building site is immediately adjacent to the Livermore municipal parking lot, which can accommodate 41 cars. A parking study that was conducted in 2022 for the first set of plans never observed more than 32% occupancy of the lot, and also noted ample on-street parking availability in the area.

The study also noted that “residential sites that provide less parking attract residents with fewer vehicles.” Since those residents who do have cars can apply for a permit to park overnight in a municipal lot, the study concluded that the project could substitute parking in the nearby municipal lots instead of providing its own on-site parking (similar to many of the apartments above the shops in downtown Melrose).

Massa added that none of the residents who applied for overnight parking passes in Melrose this year indicated that they would park in the Livermore lot, although some of the spaces are assigned to nearby merchants during the day.

“When the building was filled with the barber shop, the nail salon, the jeweler, and so on,” reflected project attorney David Lucas, “it was a relatively busy parking lot, but it worked. It was sufficient. And there’s also parking on both sides of Main Street for a good distance.”

“The fact that this is next to the municipal lot is advantageous,” Morelli pointed out. “It’s a good location to find available parking within walking distance. And people who self-select to live in very small units like this tend to want less parking. We hear from younger people that that’s what they want, that’s what the demand is. It might be hard for people who have two or three cars to understand it, but that’s what people want.”

Planning Board members raised concerns about several outstanding issues, including stormwater runoff, which is likely to be challenging on a site with very little open space.

Planning Board member Anne DeSouza-Ward also raised the issue of where vehicles servicing the residential part of the building, including delivery trucks, could pull over. “As soon as you have residents with no cars,” she noted, “they don’t want to carry as much, so they have a lot more deliveries, and a lot more Uber rides.”

The project architect noted that they plan to make improvements to the public parking lot as part of the project. They will also plant new street trees along Main Street.

“We’re building for one of the most important spots in Melrose,” said Lucas, “and I think it’s going to look fantastic.”

Former mayor Paul Brodeur spoke during the public comment period, telling the project team, “You have a hard job. Everyone has a million opinions about how this could and should go. This is an outstanding proposal.”

The proposal will be the main focus of the Planning Board’s next meeting, which will take place on a Zoom call on Wednesday, August 20th, at 7:00 pm. A meeting link will be posted on the city website prior to the 20th. The documents related to these plans can be found on the Planning Board's website.

Ellen Putnam contributed reporting to this article.

Posted August 5th, 2025