Developers say the Sherry Building on Munroe Street, formerly home to Goldberg Furniture, will add 19 residential and four commercial condominiums to the city's downtown when construction is completed in early 2005.

The project, temporarily stalled by a sour national economy, is again under way as work crews clean the brick exterior and framing carpenters bring new life to the five floors inside.

According to Jeff Gibbons, management director for Lynn-based Oasis Development Enterprises, the real estate investment firm funding under the reconstruction, the Sherry Building at 70 Munroe St. will eventually become a prime and coveted address in the central business district.

"The interior demolition has been completed and the ground-floor commercial units are already sold to investors," he said. "The 19 units on the upper will all have high speed Internet access at 100 megabits per second. That's fast-very fast. A single fiber-optic cable comes directly into the Sherry Building from Primus (an Internet service provider) across the street."

Gibbons said the fiber-optic line is a "dark cable," which means only 23 condominiums are plugged into it, ensuring a rapid data stream.

Oasis purchased the property in 1995, shortly after the former owners closed the landmark furniture business. Although plans called for immediate development as part of the so-called Goldblock Project, those initiatives were put on hold while the redevelopment of storefronts farther along Munroe Street, including the former Belking Building at the corner of Washington Street.

The largest tenant, Woodworkers Warehouse, occupied more than 10,000 square feet and served as the anchor tenant until it went out of business in 2003. That vacant commercial space at 100 Munroe St. has not been filled.

"We've had offers, but the right tenant just hasn't come along," Gibbons said. "At least many of the employees from Woodworkers Warehouse in Lynn got picked up by other stores in the chain, which were bought up by two companies that run the same sort of retail business."

The Lynn Chamber of Commerce, the Lynn Police Department, Gordon College, Oasis Development's headquarters, and a business that processes payrolls, remain tenants along the commercial strip. Oasis also owns the former Lynn Hardware Building adjacent to the Sherry Building, but it, too, remains vacant and awaiting development.

"We're still undecided about how we'll proceed with the Lynn Hardware Building," said Gibbons, noting possibilities include demolishing or moving it.
The conversion blueprint for turning the Sherry Building into condominiums includes 16 two-bedroom units and three one-bedroom residential units, the latter spread evenly over the second, third and forth floors.

"Most of the residential units will be spacious-1,000 to 1,200 square feet. But they won't be completely open lofts in the strict sense, exposed bricks and no wall," Gibbons said. "It just wouldn't make good sense, heat wise, to leave all the brick exposed in that building. So our interiors will be dry wall, but the floor plan is still open, which is what people want these days."

Since the interior framing is post-and-beam, the ceilings on the second, third and fourth floors will be 12-feet-high. The fifth-floor penthouse has 16-foot-high ceilings.

"Every unit gets one deeded parking space behind our building," said Gibbons. "Eventually, we'd like to build a similar development in the open space between the Sherry Building and the Lynn Hardware Building, and those units would also come with parking. We think that's important because very few buildings have adequate parking."

As the developers are quite aware, in such a congested business district, deeded parking takes an added value in winter, when snow emergencies force all vehicles off the street.

When John Sherry, a shoemaker and entrepreneur, erected the sherry building in 1880, it was U-shaped in order to allow for airflow and daylight penetration.

"That big U-shaped was capped at some point," Gibbons explained. "The building was built before electric lighting and indoor heating, so the U-shape let in lighting and air, but was later covered over, and that area in the middle will become the hallways to service the residential units."

The roof has been replaced, the asbestos floor tiles removed. The elevator nearest the front entrance was eliminated. The second lift toward the rear of the building will be replaced with a new passenger elevator, according to Gibbons.

Selling prices have not been established, but David Hughes from Hushes Century 21 Real Estate has been hired as the broker.

"We're going to meet this week to talk about prices, among other things," said Gibbons, adding that the units would likely b marketed in the $3000, 000 range, which is slightly above the state average for condominium sales during April. According to the developers, spacious living accommodations, deeded parking and new construction are enhanced by proximity to public transportation.

"We are so close to the train station entrance-literally 100 feet away, although we're not right next to the train tracks. But you'll be able to go down the elevator, out the front door, walk across the street and go directly into the station," said Gibbons. That's pretty darn convenient, and the train ride is 19 minutes from Lynn to Boston's North Station. Hey, that's a heck of a nice commute."

Gibbons said Community Development Director Harold McGaughey and Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan have been instrumental in pushing the project toward completion which is scheduled for February.

"The zoning changes made by the city have prompted a lot of changes in development plan in the downtown, although for us, we're still providing private parking for our units." Said Gibbons, referring to a City Council decision that eliminated the parking requirement for residential units in the downtown business district.