Watertown Planning Board Unanimously Approves 560 Pleasant Street Life Science Development

WATERTOWN -- October 12, 2022, Watertown Planning Board approves 560 Pleasant Street life science project with conditions after revised design. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to grant conditional special permit approval to developer Ted Saraceno of Saracen Properties for a four-story lab building and a separate retail building on the former Russo's farm stand site. Architect Chris Leary of Jacobs presented four revisions from the September hearing, including reducing the front third of the mechanical penthouse from 25 feet to 22 feet, changing exterior panels to a brown-red Pure and Freeform metal product, replacing rear loading-area asphalt with reinforced turf, and moving third-floor terrace planters from tenant to landlord scope. The board added a condition requiring the lab building to shift an additional three feet back from Pleasant Street, to a 13-foot setback, worked out with planning staff. Members Payson Whitney and Jason Wiggs each expressed reservations about the penthouse's visual mass but said the applicant's comparative table of recently approved buildings with similarly sized penthouses made it difficult to single out this project. Saraceno disclosed a signed letter of intent with a food and beverage operator for the retail site, describing plans for a breakfast-lunch-dinner destination.