Major Renovation at Liberty Plaza is Now Underway

Hoping to capitalize on the major renovations to Central Square that the city will begin in the fall, the Lombardo’s Company is in the process of completing a major renovation to Liberty Plaza in the square and is moving forward with its Seville Theater project on Border Street.

The $1 million Liberty Plaza project began a few months back and work is nearly done to replace the retail plaza’s old façade.

“We are about 60 % complete with that project,” said Lombardo’s Director of Real Estate David Barros. “We took the front off the buildings in the plaza and replacing them with a new panel system so it will look much more updated and modern.”

The old finish, Barros explained, was made of stucco foam and had deteriorated over the past 20 years.

“We had painted the facades a few times but this time we just decided to give the Plaza a whole new face,” said Barros.

The Plaza, which houses Marshalls, Kappy’s Liquors, CVS Pharmacy, Auto Zone and Pollo Campero has undergone a transformation over the years.

“It was once mainly a food destination plaza with a pizza place, Chinese food but is now becoming a much more diverse business plaza,” said Barros. “We have H&R Block moving in and businesses like Auto Zone, Expressions Shoes and Marshalls have made the Plaza less food orinintated over the years.”

Barros added that McDonalds would also undergo a total renovation in the next few months.

Just outside the square on Border Street the Lombardo’s Company has begun the permitting process with the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for the Seville Theater.

Known as the Seville at Boston Harbor project, the plan is to knock down the old theater, and replace it with an attractive 65 unit building of studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments. The plan also calls for 47 underground parking spaces, and approximately 15,000 square feet of retail space. The building would be about six stories with part of the upper floors stepped back.

The Seville Theater project was one part of a master plan Lombardo’s have for Eastie. The redevelopment of the Seville and subsequent work in Liberty Plaza will coincide with the take down of the steel structure outside the Sumner Tunnel and look at ways to develop that parcel in the future.