Business Owners Hopeful About Landing Project

For Harry Sarras, it can't happen soon enough.

"I've been waiting for this for years," he said of the upcoming East Braintree/Weymouth Landing $2.4 million renovation project.

The co-owner of Ultimate Pizza and The Landing Pub, Sarras expects more shops to open and the foot traffic to increase, making the area more viable for all of the small businesses in this busy strip of Washington and Commercial Streets. Sarras is making improvements to his own property as well, in order to blend in with what the towns are doing. He's said he's willing to deal with the construction delays because in the end, it will all be worth it.

The project is a "smart growth" endeavor, made possible by a grant from Public Works Economic Development, a state-run program designed to provide communities with transportation money for economic stimulus. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, an agency representing 101 Boston-area towns, has also suggested mixed-use zoning – residential and commercial – along with new or modified zoning regulations relating to building height and parking requirements.

A few public meetings in both Braintree and Weymouth have met with mostly favorable response from residents, and construction will likely begin next spring. The deadline for work to be done with the beautification grant is June 30, 2012.

But despite the infusion of money and bright outlook for the streetscape, some worries about the project remain.

Braintree business owners in the area expressed concern about new traffic patterns, increased volume, and reduced parking. While several have their own or shared parking lots, many rely on the street parking for their customers. Between Brookside Road and the light at Quincy Avenue and Commercial Street, for example, there are six parking spaces on the east side and nine on the west side, Commercial Street, including two 15-minute pick-up spots.

Off the main drag and directly across from the MBTA commuter rail station, is the recently refurbished municipal parking lot of about 110 spaces. Business owners claim that it is not well-marked from Commercial Street, so potential customers don't know about it. For a business like Vincenzo Shoe Repair, on-street parking is essential for their customers who want to pop in and out quickly.

Town officials have said the grant will allow them to better mark public parking that is already available.

North of the F.L. Wright Connector traffic light, there is near unanimous opinion among owners that the traffic backups on Quincy Avenue are damaging to their businesses.

Andrea Plluska and his son Aldi Plluska are moving Brian's Fine Desserts into the old Braintree Glass location. They have been attending town meetings on the Landing project. Aldi is hopeful that they can influence a change in the traffic pattern, making three lanes southbound and one northbound, to allow the traffic to move more quickly.

Some business owners acknowledged that they have not stayed on top of the progress of the project, but said that beautification of this long-neglected area will be a positive change.

However, memory of the lengthy MBTA construction project for the Greenbush line caused stress just at the mention of another revamping of the area. The transition period was "a killer," said Alan Joseph of Chair Fair, although in the end, the "improvements have been good."

Ultimately, owners said, a positive outcome will lift them all. Many anticipate that the block of empty buildings across the town line will finally be addressed, and that removal or reconstruction of the long-standing eyesore will uplift the area immediately.