HOPEDALE — The town is in the process of deciding whether to grant a special permit to a Boston commercial real estate developer that wants to build a giant distribution center on Plain Street.
The Zoning Board of Appeals is reviewing a proposal from GFI Partners that calls for construction of a 616,875-square-foot warehouse and distribution center at 75 Plain St. The building would be constructed on property that is currently home to Rosenfeld Concrete Corp. and across from Hopedale Airport, with the back side of the property abutting the Hopedale Country Club.
The application was first submitted to the Planning Board in September, which led to a lengthy site plan review process as the town evaluated the proposal. GFI is constructing a similar, but smaller, project at 300 Financial Park Drive in Franklin.
If the Hopedale project is approved, Rosenfeld Concrete’s operations would be relocated — the company, a unit of Boston Sand & Gravel Company, has an existing plant in Walpole.
The Hopedale property eyed for development sits on 141 acres within the town’s Groundwater Protection District, due to its proximity to the community’s well fields. That has led residents to express concern that it will have a negative environmental impact. Other resident concerns include increased noise and traffic, as well as the sheer size of the proposed building, which would be about three times the size of an average Walmart.
“There is nothing like this project on Plain Street. If we were building something like what is on the property already, my wife and I wouldn’t come (to speak out),” said Plain Street resident Mike Hyland during a public hearing on June 15. “I don’t believe that when this street was built, that people would envision that they would have to share that space with a 600,000-square-foot distribution space, with I don’t know how many 18-wheelers running around the clock.”
