Dream kitchen biz encounters a red tape nightmare
Setting up shop in old factory no easy matter for Leominster business owner
Around central Massachusetts, cities are looking for ways to bring new life to their vacant factory buildings. Leominster is no different; the local newspaper there often runs stories about officials' efforts to lure business owners to the old mills.
For months, Nelson Lee, owner of Dream Kitchens & Baths by Nelson in Leominster, had been reading those stories. With the rent rising at his current location on Central Street, he decided to talk to City Hall.
"I said, you know what? That would be perfect for me because I'm an established business and I no longer need to be on a main commercial space," Lee said.
He began working with the city and soon found an appropriate location that would require almost no renovation, a section of a former factory building right off Route 2 that a previous tenant had already outfitted for a similar business.
On May 1, Lee gave notice to his landlord that he expected to move out over the summer.
Now, with his busy fall season about to start, Lee is still waiting. The city council did not grant him a special permit to use the space until Aug. 27, and he is now waiting out a 20-day appeal period before he can get an occupancy permit. Lee blames the delay on a series of demands from the city that seemed to escalate as he moved forward in the process.
Dream kitchen nightmare
"If I had known what the city was going to do, I never would have done it," Lee said.
Scott Amos, Leominster's economic development coordinator, said city officials are concerned about Lee's situation.
"To have this local company kind of be disenchanted with the process, I guess the best way to put it, it raises some eyebrows," he said.
And Amos said the city is doing something about it. In response to Lee and others who have run into similar problems, officials are considering changing the way the city council goes about granting special permits.
It's an important step, he said, because the city's push to get businesses into the old factories is attracting more and more interest. Within the past six months or so, he said, 10 to 12 companies have applied for special permits.
"It's been something that has proved effective for redeveloping buildings," Amos said.
To request a special permit that would allow him to operate a commercial business in an industrial-zoned area, Lee first needed to get an official denial letter from the building department. Then, he had to go to the planning board several times, and then to multiple city council meetings. And both city bodies did site visits to inspect the property. Throughout the process, Lee said, he kept finding out about new pieces of information the city needed from him.
"They lead you blindly down this corridor and every door you open is empty," he said.
Meanwhile, Lee said, his current landlord has had a few prospective new tenants look at his current location. That makes him nervous since he expects it will take him at least a month and a half to move out once he gets the keys to his new space in mid-September.
"What if my landlord tells me I've got 30 days to get out?" he said.
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