Brouillard: rebuilding on Union Avenue

Phil Brouillard plans to construct a three-story commercial and residential building at 212-222 Union Avenue where fire destroyed a wood-frame apartment building in December 2003. The project represents an expanded version of a plan he prepared but withdrew more than a year ago. Since then he has arranged to acquire two adjoining lots, one on Union Avenue between his property and the Byse Agency and the other behind the first fronting on Church Street. Together the three lots form a dog-legged parcel of almost one acre.

The building would front on Union Avenue, sitting between the Byse Agency and Simoneau & Lambert Funeral Home and bracketed on either side by parking lots with space for some 50 vehicles. The preliminary plan includes a small lot adjacent to the funeral home and a much larger lot stretching from Union Avenue to Church Street on the other side of the building.

With the additional space, Brouillard has more than doubled the size of the building. The plan calls for 6,600 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, compared to 3,185 square feet in the building that was designed in March 2004. The two upper floors are divided into 11 one-bedroom apartments intended for senior citizens. Initially Brouillard envisioned 3,458 square feet of office space on the second and third floors.

Inspired by the McIntyre Building at the foot of Pleasant Street, Brouillard has planned to build to a traditional design featuring a pitched roof and two-story dormer.

Since the rear setback will be just five feet, compared to the 15-foot setback required in the professional zone, Brouillard will be seeking a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The original building destroyed by the fire had a rear setback of slight more than a foot-and-a-half. Moreover, the new building would meet the front and rear setbacks while the original building did not.