Upgrade proposed for Piety Corner in Waltham

A local developer plans to build eight town homes at the former Piety Corner Nursing Home site on Bacon Street.

Ernest D. Rogers, president of Rogers and Company Inc., said he's proposing to tear down the old building at the one-and-a-half-acre site to make way for a new two-and-a-half-story structure. Each of the townhome units will have two-and-a-half baths and two bedrooms as well as a loft. Each unit will also have a garage.

"They will be higher-end units, with every amenity," Rogers said.

Rogers said the exterior of the building will be done in cedar clapboard, and that the architecture would blend in with other homes in the neighborhood to make it look like it "simply belongs there."

"It's in the Piety Corner neighborhood, which has always been a very desirable neighborhood," Rogers said.

Rogers met with residents living near the property on Saturday and said the feedback was positive.

Gloria Champion, a staff member of the Conservation Commission, lives next door to the former nursing home. She said yesterday she couldn't offer a comment on what she thought of the Rogers' plans because the proposed development would be the subject of a future commission meeting.

The development will be built by right. The city's zoning ordinance allows for former nursing homes sites to be converted into housing, giving a developer the opportunity to build one residential unit for every four beds that were at the nursing home.

Rogers said, however, he will need to get approval from the Conservation Commission because part of Chester Brook runs behind the site.

Rogers said he is coming up with a plan to manage stormwater for the property, something he said has not been in place before at the site.

"There's no stormwater controls there at all currently," Rogers said.

Ward 1 Councilor Robert Kelly said he wasn't asked to attend Saturday's meeting between Rogers and the neighbors, but said he's generally supportive of redevelopment of old nursing homes or institutional facilities into housing.

"Converting a nursing home over to condo units is far more attractive to abutters and neighbors than the alternative," Kelly said.

Years ago, Kelly said there was a proposal to convert a 22-room mansion next to his home on Worcester Lane into a "mental institution," a plan he fought and one that eventually fell through.

Kelly said the site has been turned into five condominiums.

"I have five condos next to my house," Kelly said. "I don't hear a peep out of them."

Rogers said he still hadn't firmed up a name for his project, but sounded like he might be close on settling on one.

"I'm toying with Piety Corner Village," Rogers said.

Richard Conn can be reached at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.