ZBA approves conversion of former Prospect Street school at 75 East Broadway into 23 apartments with conditions

The Gardner City Zoning Board of Appeals voted July 15 to approve a special permit allowing Molina Landmark LLC to convert the vacant Prospect Street school at 75 East Broadway into a 23‑unit rental apartment building, subject to several conditions the board said are intended to protect neighbors and public safety.

Applicant representatives described a reuse plan that preserves the building’s exterior, provides a mix of unit sizes and reuses existing paved areas for resident parking. The proposal calls for 23 units (including two basement efficiencies the applicant will show on an updated drawing), a sprinkling system, replacement of windows to meet current energy code, accessibility improvements to the main floor and resurfacing and restriping of the existing parking area.

Board members and the applicant discussed utilities, exterior lighting, refuse and mail/package handling, emergency egress lighting, snow removal and the required new water main work to serve a building‑wide sprinkler system. The applicant said existing paved area covers roughly 15,000 square feet of the 75,460‑square‑foot lot and that drainage is already connected to city systems; the design team said they will provide an MEP and lighting package with dark‑sky full‑cutoff fixtures aimed to avoid spillage to abutting properties.

The board adopted several conditions before approving the permit. As read into the record in the motion and reflected in the approved decision, the conditions require the applicant to: replace or repair the existing perimeter fence; submit a code‑compliant parking‑lot lighting plan and MEP details to the building commissioner for review and approval; provide a total of 10 on‑site visitor parking spaces above the minimum required by code, two of which must be EV charging stations; add emergency lighting over exit doors and in egress paths as required by code; and file a revised site plan showing the two proposed basement efficiency apartments and a package/mail delivery plan (to be located in the back vestibule) for review as part of the updated submission.

At the meeting the applicant also agreed to add a modest resident amenity area on the grass portion of the lot and to consider visitor parking and signage to reduce curbside congestion on Prospect and East Broadway. Multiple neighbors spoke in favor of reusing the long‑vacant building; one longtime resident said he attended school there and welcomed the reuse. Several neighbors raised concerns about visitor parking, pedestrian crossings and speed on Prospect Street; board members encouraged the neighborhood to raise those traffic concerns with the Department of Public Works as well as with the applicant during the design refinement.

The motion to approve the special permit passed unanimously. The board will expect the applicant to submit the revised drawings, the lighting plan and the mail/package handling plan to the building commissioner and to the ZBA as specified in the decision; the building permit and final inspections remain conditions precedent to occupancy.