March 18, 2020 by Thomas Breen- "Ocean Management plans to build 129 new apartments and over 7,000 square feet of new commercial space at the site of the long-shuttered 500 Blake Street Cafe in Westville. Local attorney Jim Segaloff revealed those plans in a site plan, inland wetlands plan, and special permit application that he recently submitted to the City Plan Commission on behalf of his clients 500 Blake Development LLC and 881 Whalley LLC. Both holding companies are owned by Shmuel Aizenberg, the founder of the large-scale local landlord and property management company Ocean Management. Aizenberg’s companies purchased the half-dozen Blake Street, Whalley Avenue, and Tour Avenue parcels that make up the prospective development site last year from Paula and David Perrotti. The 500 Blake St. development application was scheduled to be heard during Wednesday night’s regular monthly City Plan Commission meeting—until that meeting was postponed until next Wednesday, March 25, following Mayor Justin Elicker’s indefinite closure of City Hall to the public as part of his state of the emergency declaration surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our department is working with Corp Counsel and regional partners on finalizing a protocol for hosting virtual public meetings,” City Plan Department Planner II Stacey Davis said in an email sent out Tuesday afternoon. “Before the end of this week, we will share instructions for accessing/attending next week’s meeting and submitting testimony that complies with the state’s evolving regulations for hosting virtual public meetings..."

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