If the historic former Birds Eye factory building could be anything — an art studio, an office, a restaurant, an assembly line, a Greasy Pole hall of fame — what would you like to see there?
That's what the building's new owner, developer Mac Bell, wants to know. Tomorrow morning he is holding a "lawn chair and ideas" gathering in the Birds Eye parking lot to brainstorm and steep in the will of the people.
The gathering, starting at 9 a.m. with a warm-up performance by bluegrass band Old Cold Tater, is the first in what Bell said will be a series of community events to make sure that whatever he does with the Birds Eye factory does not meet the same anti-gentrification opposition other recent plans have faced.
"I've lived in the Fort, I own property there and I work there. I definitely have ideas about possible uses, but I am interested in hearing from everyone else," Bell said in a statement this week. "At the moment, there is nothing that's off the table."
Bell last month bought the 1915 factory, where Clarence Birdseye perfected the flash-freezing process, from a bank for $2.25 million.
Originally a light bulb factory, the building is now partially filled by a cold storage business and is covered by marine industrial zoning, which bars residential development in the rest of the Fort and much of the harborside.
Bell purchased the building after a plan launched by Mayor Carolyn Kirk's administration last year to rezone the property so it could be turned in to a hotel was clobbered by community opposition.
While all possibilities are officially on the table, Bell, in early discussions, has said he is interested in a mixed-use, live-work arrangement with commercial or industrial activity on the ground floor likely paired with residential above.
"It's so easy to operate from fear," Bell said this week. "If we can just embrace the optimism ... the less politics the better."
His press release on Tuesday added "after what happened with the proposed hotel, I think I have a pretty good idea of what people don't want."
As for the Birds Eye's unusual white tower, which has become a familiar landmark overlooking Pavilion Beach, Bell said he would like to keep it.
Joining Bell and Old Cold Tater in the Birds Eye parking lot, 55 Commercial St., will be Mary John Boylan, the facilitator of the event, and architect Richard Griffin.
Following tomorrow's event, a focus group meeting has been scheduled by the Birds Eye team for City Hall on Sept. 19.
Patrick Anderson may be contacted at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
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