Key Downtown Hamilton Parcel Has New Owner

A downtown parcel - one of several eyed for redevelopment when new zoning was put in place two years ago – has changed hands.

Hamilton resident Michael Pallazola, who owns High-Tech Electric in Essex, bought the southern portion of at 227 Willow St. on May 22 for $580,000.

The front of the property has a home that sits near the street and there is an office building at the rear with a parking lot.

Pallazola said last week that he is “in the beginning stages of a plan that will beautify the property while keeping in mind what is best for our community.”

He didn’t say whether the overlay zoning district, , factored in to the purchase or whether any of his plans would include any of the provisions of the newer zoning, with a special permit from the Planning Board.

The overlay district was developed as a result of the 2004 Master Plan, which sought to "stimulate economic activity” in the downtown. The property is in Hamilton’s downtown commercial district, which comprises about 1 percent of the town’s total land area.

The overlay district expanded the types of uses allowed in the so-called overlay district in hopes of enticing development or redevelopment.

“My wife and I are raising our family in Hamilton and want to come up with a plan that would be beneficial to the town and profitable to our family,” Pallazola said in an e-mail, in response to an inquiry from Patch.

Pallazola said he would provide updates as the plan progresses.

The real estate agent that had listed the property, Kathie Strout of Century 21, said she didn’t know what was planned for the .73-acre property.

“I asked him at the closing and he didn’t give me any inkling,” Strout said.

Town Planning Coordinator Kristine Cheetham said no plans for the property have been submitted to her office and Deb Paskowski, administrative assistant to the building department, said that no building permits had been issued for the property.

The building is assessed, for tax purposes, by the town at $1.038 million.

The remaining portion of the lot – the northern portion – sold twice last year, first in April from the estate of Philip Hansbury, who ran a lumberyard on the property, to Jeff Bunk of Beverly, who also owns . Bunk cleaned up the property and then, in June, Bunk had the old main building of the lumberyard that sat right along Willow Street torn down. In November, the property was then sold to , which has moved its headquarters there.