Haverill, MA
Something is spreading downtown and it's not blight.

Two major development firms, which together are investing $109 million to build apartment complexes in downtown factory buildings, are buying up nearby properties to beautify the neighborhoods around their complexes.

While no one argues the properties shouldn't be cleaned up, local historians say an old diner one developer intends to buy should be preserved - keeping a slice of American culture from the wrecking ball.

Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland and Beacon Communities of Boston want to clean up the neighborhoods around their apartment complexes to make them more appealing to potential tenants, city Planning Director William Pillsbury said.

"They want to protect their investment and improve their investment," Pillsbury said.

The trend can be contagious, he said.

Pillsbury expects the beautification efforts to spread as residents and new businesses move in and the market demands improvements.

Forest City is in the process of buying two buildings near Lafayette Square - 262 Winter St., home of Cottman Transmission, which is in good shape, and the former Kenny's restaurant, a run-down and vacant diner car connected to a building at 246 Winter St.

Progress vs. history

While some at City Hall cheer the progress made by developers, at least one city preservationist is worried Haverhill will lose a piece of its history.

Thomas Spitalere, chairman of the city's Historical Commission, said diner cars are historic landmarks and he wants Forest City to consider preserving Kenny's restaurant.

Spitalere said only a few diner cars are left in the Merrimack Valley, and Haverhill's only surviving example should be saved.

A diner car has been at the corner of Winter and Duncan streets since at least 1910. Spitalere is afraid the site will be turned into a parking lot and Kenny's will be torn down.

"It does look junky," Spitalere said. "But if big companies are willing to invest in downtown, it would be a small investment to preserve it later on. It is a viable thing."

The diner car on Winter Street was built around 1928 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company and was first in service in Roxbury, said Gary Thomas, a diner car historian who wrote the book "Diners of the North Shore."

The diner car was moved to the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1945 and then to River Street in Haverhill. It was moved to its current location around 1955, Thomas said.

Thomas, who lives in Beverly, said it would be a shame to lose the last diner car in a city that once had so many diners catering to mill workers.

"I always hate to see these things go," he said.

Gregg Anderson, a spokesman for the American Diner Museum in Rhode Island, said his organization has rescued more than 30 diner cars from demolition.

He said the museum is aware of the Haverhill diner and would be interested in working with the developer to save it.

"We would have an interest in seeing what can be done in salvaging what remains," Anderson said.

800 downtown units on the way

Forest City's apartments will be in former factory buildings on Essex and Duncan streets. The $70 million, 306-apartment project is the largest housing development in the city's history.

Beacon Communities, meanwhile, has already rehabilitated a shabby parking lot across the street from Maria's Restaurant on Locust Street and recently bought Charlie's Place on Walnut Street, a rundown bar that used to offer $1 beers and sits across from the The Cordovan, Beacon's 146-unit apartment complex.

Forest City and Beacon have not announced what will happen to the diner, transmission shop or bar.

A new downtown master plan unveiled last month said Haverhill needs to clean up blight to attract renters and buyers to the new apartments and condos downtown. More than 800 units have recently been built or are in the planning stages downtown and nearby.

Mayor James Fiorentini said Forest City intends to beautify an entire section of downtown stretching from Essex Street to Winter Street on the edge of Lafayette Square.

"That is exactly what we are trying to do, take a rundown, beat-up area and improve the values," Fiorentini said. "They are basically going to redo that whole junkyard area."

Beacon is already improving its neighborhood, and the mayor hopes its influence spreads to Merrimack Street on the east side of downtown.

Cleaning things up

Brad Brooks, the real estate broker who is handling the sale of the two Winter Street properties to Forest City, said he does not know what the company intends to do with the diner or transmission shop, but "it's definitely going to be good."

"Forest City is being very quiet about how they are doing things," Brooks said.

Forest City will use part of the transmission shop property for its residents to enter and leave the parking area, Brooks said. The buildings are owned by Saturn Realty Inc. of Newbury.

"Will that be ripped down? I cannot answer that," he said. "It's all to do with Forest City."

The Forest City official in charge of the Haverhill project did not return calls for comment.

Martin Shipon owns Cottman Transmission but leases his space in the building.

He said if Forest City buys the building and wants the business closed, he will move it to another location with the money he is paid for the lease termination. He expects Forest City to clean up the neighborhood, including Duncan Street behind the transmission shop, which is dotted with weeds and litter.

"I hope it works out like they think," Shipon said. "It will definitely help beautify Haverhill."

Next door to the diner is R.G.'s Pub, a neighborhood bar owned for 24 years by Russ Littlefield.

Littlefield said the diner was used for a few years as a music club for teenagers, known as the UFI, for Unidentified Flying Iguana.

Littlefield said he supports Forest City's plans to beautify the neighborhood and will not mind if the diner is torn down, given its deteriorating condition.

"It will upgrade the area and bring people in," he said. "More power to them if they want to clean things up."

Originally published online here: http://www.eagletribune.com/punewshh/local_story_196093909?keyword=topstory+page=1