We invite you to a public meeting on Friday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Nazzaro Community Center, 30 N Bennet St., Boston, to see what the future looks like for this North End cultural landmark, including proposed new interior designs by the Boston Architectural College. The meeting is sponsored by the Save the Nazzaro Coalition and BAC. This meeting does not represent the city’s official plans, which remain under wraps.
While the Mayor hasn’t announced anything publicly, we learned through the grapevine that Mayor Walsh called Jim Luisi, CEO of the North End Waterfront Health Center last fall, to offer him the opportunity to take over the city’s Nazzaro building once it is surplused. This is likely to happen in two to three years, once a larger North End Community Center is built next to the Mirabella Pool. We were pleased that Mr. Luisi was willing to meet with the Save the Nazzaro Coalition leaders and BAC, to share some of his plans.
Mr. Luisi said that he and the Mayor discussed having NEW Health lease the Nazzaro building from the city, to add a new senior center and also medical offices for drug addiction treatments, such as counseling and acupuncture. The NEW Health Center is part of the Partners Health Network, and is most closely associated with Mass General Hospital and the Boston Medical Center.
At the Feb. 21 meeting, you will see new architectural drawings reflecting these tentative NEW Health plans, and interviews with other North End stakeholders. These unofficial designs are meant to inspire the planning process by the city and the North End community, supplementing the NAZZARO PLANS created last year by a first team of Boston Architectural College students. The new BAC team, like the first, is donating its services free of charge to the Save the Nazzaro Coalition as a public service through their Gateway community program. We are grateful to the BAC for all their work, and hope you will come to thank them in person!
Please continue helping us advocate for centrally-located community services and our unique cultural legacy in Boston’s North End. We look forward to working with our elected officials and NEW Health to ensure that the Nazzaro’s new chapter is worthy of its celebrated history, architecture, and location. We are awaiting the final disposition of the Landmarks Commission and the Mayor’s signature on our Landmarks petition, to ensure that the original North Bennet Street Bath House gets the formal Landmark protections it deserves, even as it takes on a new purpose and interior redesign.
— Save the Nazzaro Coalition
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