Chelsea’s Economic Development Board meets Wednesday, October 21, at 6 p.m. in Room 102 at City Hall, 500 Broadway, with a Zoom option. The agenda, posted on the city website Monday, lists four items of new business: an update on the master plan, an update on the urban renewal plan, an update on an EPA brownfields grant, and an item titled “Floramos Site, Redevelopment Potential.”
The first vote on the agenda is to approve the board’s minutes from meetings in February, May and August 2025. No 2026 minutes are listed.
The Floramo’s site
Floramo’s restaurant was at 213 Everett Avenue. In July 2022 the city approved variances and a special permit that would let the developer Verdynt replace it with an 11-story research and lab building, NBC Boston reported at the time. Verdynt’s principal said then that the restaurant had been invited to return to a ground-floor space. The agenda does not say what the board will discuss or what has become of that plan.
In a February presentation to the City Council’s planning subcommittee, city planning staff named the Everett Avenue and Beech Street area, “near the former site of Floramo’s,” as one of three priority areas in the West Chelsea Mixed-Use Overlay District. The others are the Carter and Vale Street triangle and the western edge of the district. The council adopted the overlay 11-0 on June 8. It allows mixed-use development by right and relaxes parking requirements.
Master plan and urban renewal
The Planning Board held the only public hearing on the new master plan in September and is scheduled to vote on it October 27. The agenda gives no detail on the urban renewal plan update.
The brownfields grant
EPA’s funding records show the City of Chelsea received a $500,000 brownfields assessment grant in 2023 that is still open. Assessment grants pay for environmental testing on properties where contamination is suspected. The same records list an $84,325 targeted assessment of 41-43 Orange Street in 2023, now closed, a $200,000 assessment grant in 1998, and a $200,000 cleanup grant in 2007 for the former Lawrence Metal Forming Company at 145-155 Beech Street.
How to attend
The meeting is open to the public, and public comment is on the agenda. To join by Zoom, register in advance. To join by phone, call 1-309-205-3325 and enter meeting ID 830 3516 1992. The board is staffed by the Department of Housing and Community Development, 617-466-4192.