By STEVE FREKER
MALDEN — The new owners of City Hall and the former police station will begin demolishing the buildings in mid-April with the former Pleasant Street station razed first to make way for new development.
Jefferson Apartment Group deposited $10 million with the city toward the site purchase. The former seat of city government and public safety has been fenced off and closed to pedestrian traffic, and demolition is expected to take about two weeks.
With an August 2019 completion date, Jefferson’s transit-oriented development across the street from one of the busiest MBTA stations on the North Shore will include 325 apartments, retail space, more than 300 parking spaces and more than 40,000 square feet of condominium-based office space for city hall operations.
Jefferson plans to transform the site into a $30 million residential/commercial mixed-use development that will eventually include a permanent home for City Hall operations. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring.
Malden’s temporary seat of government now operates on Pleasant Street, four blocks from City Hall. The renewal project will build on other recent city achievements, including construction and opening of a new, state-of-the-art police station on Eastern Avenue.
The project clears the way for reconnecting Pleasant Street to create unimpeded traffic flow for the first time in 43 years.
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Another building on the site development site, First Church of Malden, will be demolished last with the razing slated to take place during the summer.
Near the end of this year, construction will begin on the new development and Jefferson officials said it will take 16-18 months. The first residential units planned at the site will be ready for use in April 2019 and the long-awaited reopening of Pleasant Street to through traffic will be realized.
Mayor Gary Christenson made the relocation of Malden City Hall and the reopening of Pleasant Street to vehicular traffic a major campaign pledge when he first ran for mayor.