Beverly Former Dollar Store Spot's Fate Up For Debate At Public Meeting

BEVERLY, MA — A second public meeting to discuss the redevelopment of the former Family Dollar location in downtown Beverly is set for early next month.

The meeting will be held at City Hall on Dec. 11 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and looks to build off the September public forum when suggestions for the city-owned space ranged from a hotel, to a grocery store, to low-income housing and an art gallery.

The city bought the location, along with 108 adjacent parking spaces, for $7.4 million two years ago.

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At the time, the thought was that the building could be used as the temporary home for City Hall during an anticipated 18-month renovation. But with that proving cost-ineffective at about $1.8 million for refitting compared to alternative commercial sites, according to Mayor Mike Cahill, the process has begun to solicit community input on what preferences to put into a Request for Proposal to possible developers.

Artist studio and gallery space had a lot of support from many of those who were former tenants of the 222 Cabot space that closed in 2022. Several of those speakers recommended breaking up the building into smaller parcels for sale to allow for more varied uses of the property.

A potential boutique hotel was favored by those who noted that visitors to the city for weddings, shows and other functions generally have to look to Danvers, Salem and nearby communities for lodging — which potentially discourages bookings and tourism.

"It's been a priority for everybody to see that building come back to life — that site come back to life," Cahill said during the September forum. "The good thing about us not trying to go in there for City Hall is that we're able to do this process now. And it will be sooner that something can bring that whole site back to life.

"Itwill be sooner that there will be retail on that ground floor that the downtown really needs. It will be sooner to get it back on the tax rolls as well."

The Beverly City Council in 2023 backed Cahill's proposal to borrow $6 million and use $2 million in so-called "free cash" (surplus tax funds) to purchase the building and lots that would preserve the more than 100 downtown parking spaces.

He said at the time that the "friendly taking" of the property would effectively block a planned five-story, 113-unit housing complex.

Cahill noted at September's meeting that while the City Council approved $8 million for the project, the final purchase price was $7.399 million.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)