CND Looking to Make Changes to Gerrish Ave Headquarters

CND Gerrish Avenue headquarters.

The Chelsea Neighborhood Develpers (CND) have made a proposal to the City to make some changes to their headquarters on Gerrish Avenue in order to accommodate a new local collaborative training center, called the CONNECT center.

CND submitted a packet to the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals looking for a special permit and variance that will allow them to demolish a loading dock on the side of the building, expand office and classroom space on the second floor and provide four new parking spaces underneath the second floor expansion.

No one from CND was immediately available for comment on the project.

In August, CND announced an innovative new partnership between six local organizations, naming the effort CONNECT.

The idea behind the collaborative is to break barriers of poverty for residents and help to build household economic security.

Those participating organizations are CND, Bunker Hill Community College, Centro Latino, Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, Career Source and Metro Credit Union.

Some of the programs and services CONNECT will offer, according to an August release by CND, will be:

•Financial Education

•Benefits Access

•College Planning and Financial Aid services

•Banking services

•Homeowner assistance and services

•Small business planning and assistance

•Matched saving programs and accounts

•Financial coaching and Career Planning

•English for speakers of other languages

The catalyst for the project submitted to the City is, in every indication, the new CONNECT center.

The ZBA will hold a hearing on the issue on Nov. 1st.

Submitted plans showed the center will be complete with nine public computer stations, two classrooms and a daycare center.

That center will be located where CND offices and conference rooms now exist, which means that a good amount of offices for CND will be relocated into the basement of the building.

The modification does not immediately appear as if it will affect the existing businesses in the building, which are Standard Electric and Family Dollar.

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