New buyers for the long-shuttered Benny’s Plaza are expected Tuesday to announce plans to transform it into an assisted living facility with two mixed-use commercial buildings and some public green space.
Pioppi’s Liquors, which now operates at the plaza, would remain.
A partnership of HYM Investment Group of Boston and the NexCore Group of Denver has a deal to buy the plaza on Court Street from the Carpionato Group, the Rhode Island firm that bought up all 31 locations of the venerable Benny’s department stores after they closed in 2017.
Krystal Carcieri Carnes, director of marketing for Carpionato Group, confirmed the planned sale, but declined to discuss any details, including contingencies for local permits to be secured before the sale is closed, which would likely be part of the deal.
According to its website, NexCore focuses primarily on senior living and health care related developments. HYM is a large Boston development firm, with several high profile projects in its portfolio, including the massive redevelopment of Suffolk Downs in East Boston and Revere. HYM also redeveloped the campus of Newbury College in Brookline into an independent senior living and assisted living complex.
“Right now, we’re in the very early stages of exploring the site’s viability for potential redevelopment. We look forward to engaging the community for their thoughts as we begin to consider a plan,” Madeline Fitzgerald, vice president of marketing and communications at HYM, said by email.
That community engagement begins on Tuesday night, when HYM is scheduled to present its conceptual plan for the property to a joint meeting of the Select Board and Planning Board.
Engineering site assessment is underway. On April 21, the Conservation Commission reviewed an application by a company controlled by NexCore to evaluate the wetlands that lie behind the old Benny’s building. The area is low-lying and swampy, so any construction on the site would have to be set back from the wetlands, with proper safety systems to prevent runoff that could damage the wetlands.
This is the second proposal for redevelopment of the plaza to surface. In 2024, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes, a 100-year-old Boston real estate firm, hoped to build up to 240 market-rate apartments on site – a plan withdrawn over objections from residents of North Plymouth.
Michael Cohen can be reached at michael@plymouthindependent.org.