Swampscott's Select Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to conditionally pursue a Community Preservation Act funding application for the St. John's Church parking lot at 187 Humphrey Street, a parcel sitting directly beside the town-owned former Hawthorne-by-the-Sea restaurant property. Board member Danielle Leonard cast one of the dissenting votes, saying she lacked enough information about the actual space and number to commit to pursuing the purchase. Fellow board member Katie Phelan also voted against the conditional application.
The vote, which needed to happen before an October 9 Community Preservation Committee deadline, keeps alive the town's ambition to pair the parking lot with the adjacent Hawthorne parcel for a combined green space, parking, and revenue-generating redevelopment, according to Swampscott Tides. Board member Mary Ellen Fletcher called the funding application a no-brainer and suggested the acquisition could be financed year-to-year through community preservation funding, meaning the property could be purchased without additional taxpayer funds if authorized through that mechanism, per the same report. Fletcher added that the board has discussed the property with the monsignor since 2023 and has ideas about cost and what the property owner is seeking, though the town has not disclosed what it expects to pay for the 0.84-acre parcel, which carries an assessed land value of $2.5 million.
A Deal Still Missing Its Price Tag
Town Meeting members will ultimately determine whether to approve both the Community Preservation funding and the authority to purchase the parcel, following a recommendation process run through the Community Preservation Committee, the station's report notes. Swampscott voters adopted the state's Community Preservation Act in November 2024, layering a 1.5% property tax surcharge onto bills while exempting the first $100,000 of residential property valuation, a legal framework that restricts the resulting funds to open space, historic preservation, community housing, and outdoor recreation projects. More than 195 of Massachusetts's 351 cities and towns — over 55 percent — have adopted the act to tap into state matching distributions for similar acquisitions.
Against that backdrop, Swampscott's certified FY2026 tax rates sit at $12.00 per $1,000 of assessed value for residential property and $22.15 per $1,000 for commercial and personal property, figures that frame how CPA surcharges interact with the town's existing tax structure. St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church itself has deep roots on the corridor: the parish opened its Humphrey Street sanctuary in December 1904 after local supporters raised $12,000 to acquire part of the former Stone Estate, following years of Swampscott Catholics worshipping out of Town Hall starting in 1879.
Building on the Hawthorne Purchase
The parking lot discussion is the latest chapter in a redevelopment push that began in June 2022, when Town Meeting members authorized nearly $9 million in municipal funding — including $7 million to acquire the 1.47-acre Hawthorne site and $1.85 million for open space on Archer Street. That article passed by a lopsided 214-3 vote, leading to the town's formal purchase of 149-169 Humphrey Street in December 2022, as previously detailed by Hoodline's coverage of the Hawthorne closure. A 2024 town survey later found that residents considered a public park and open space the most important use of the property, while off-street public parking ranked as not important to respondents.
The Hawthorne Re-use Advisory Committee, created by the Select Board in February 2025, has since explored a two-parcel redevelopment plan that would pair the Hawthorne site with the St. John's lot. The committee agreed to present its Plan G1 concept to the Select Board, envisioning two rows of buildings totaling around 25,000 square feet if built to two stories, a 40-foot opening preserved for courtyard and open-space views, and roughly 28 parking spaces. Committee Chair Brian Watson has said a double-lot site could provide almost twice the park area of a single-lot site, though Watson separately pushed in March for immediately demolishing the Hawthorne structure at an estimated cost of $500,000 rather than pursuing interim commercial leases.
A Performing Arts Tenant Fills the Gap For Now
That demolition-first approach did not prevail. At a Special Town Meeting in December 2025, Swampscott instead approved leasing the former Hawthorne building for up to 30 months through June 2028 to limit municipal carrying costs while longer-term redevelopment planning continues, according to Itemlive. The Swampscott Center for the Performing Arts won that request for proposals and secured the interim lease at $10,000 per month, opening September 5 with an estimated total municipal financial benefit exceeding $600,000 in rent collections and insurance savings over 26 months. The Select Board has agreed to liquor, entertainment, and victualler licenses for the operation.
The family had told the town the property was sold three years earlier and they were ready to move on, and Select Board member Nick Connors learned the Athanas family decided to vacate on October 23.
Fitting Into a Bigger Downtown Vision
Town Meeting Article No. 10 authorized the Select Board to issue a request for proposals during the interim planning period, and Connors has said the article provides time and flexibility to keep the landmark protected, active, and productive. The board has separately voted 3-2 to oppose residential development at the Hawthorne property, and in June, one Select Board member pointed to strategic alignment between the Hawthorne redevelopment and a planned hotel development at the former Hadley School site across Humphrey Street, saying a hotel directly across the street makes complementary commercial, park, and parking infrastructure more valuable.
For now, the St. John's parking lot purchase remains unresolved. The Select Board has not decided whether to pursue buying it outright, and Danielle Leonard has said the conditional application could resemble agreeing to pursue the purchase without sufficient information in hand. Whatever the board ultimately proposes will need to clear Town Meeting, the same body that approved the original Hawthorne purchase by a near-unanimous margin four years ago.
