Inn at Hastings Park Eyeing Late Spring/Early Summer Opening

Construction is well underway as the former Dana Home is transformed into the kind of New England-style inn some say Lexington has been lacking.

  Today, it’s a scene unfit for any postcard. But for all the construction activity at the corner of Mass Ave and Worthen Road, the end result is expected to be a welcome amenity for Lexington visitors. By late spring or early summer, the transformation from Dana Home to Inn at Hastings Park should be complete, and the hotel and restaurant open for business, according to Trisha Perez Kennealy, the Lexington resident behind the project. “Now more than ever I can feel it,” Kennealy said. “I can see myself standing here and welcoming guests.” Heavy machinery holds position atop ground that would be muddy if it wasn’t frozen and workers constantly bustle about at 2027-2013 Massachusetts Avenue. The two “outer buildings” there now sit atop new …

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The 10 Most Popular Lexington Patch Posts of 2012

A special education scandal, politics, prostitutes, personal tragedy and an apocalypse that wasn’t: A look back at the year that was in Lexington.

  It’s almost impossible to be objective when considering the biggest stories of any given year. An issue of the utmost importance to one person or group may matter not at all to another segment of the population. And so, as we look back onthe year at the year that was in Lexington, we're leaving the deciding up to you – or to UVs, to be more precise. What you’ll find below are the top Lexington Patch posts in terms of pageviews, which is to say these are most widely read stories, polls, updates and photos galleries from 2012.    What you won’t find in the list below is our coverage of the Busa Land and its farming future, the redevelopment of the Dana Home as the Inn at Hastings Park, Hurricane Sandy or the start of Lexington’s …

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Site Work Begins as Dana Home Transforms into the Inn at Hastings Park

While awaiting a few final approvals, preliminary work is already underway.

The transformation from senior housing to New England-style inn has begun at the former Dana Home and future Inn at Hastings Park. Construction vehicles rolled up to the site, located at the corner of Mass Ave and Worthen Road, and preliminary work began earlier this week, according to Trisha Perez Kennealy, the Lexington resident behind the project. “Everything that we’re doing right now is preliminary work,” she said, “Exploratory demolition work, getting the site ready for construction.” Earlier this year, Lexington’s annual Town Meeting approved Kennealy’s citizen’s petition to rezone parcels at 2027 and 2013 Massachusetts Ave. to allow for commercial redevelopment of the Dana Home and the adjacent property as a hotel and restaurant …

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One Step Closer to an Inn at Hastings Park

Lexington ZBA OKs plans to redevelop a former convalescence home and adjacent property on Mass Ave into a hotel and restaurant, despite objections from some neighbors.

  It was all ayes on plans to transform the Dana Home and an adjacent property into a “New England-style inn” to be known as the Inn at Hastings Park, which received approval last week from the Zoning Board of Appeals. In a meeting last Thursday, July 26, Lexington’s ZBA approved a definitive site development plan (DSDUP), allowing certain new uses and site improvements and a special permit to allow an additional standing sign at the site. Those approvals all came over objections from some members of the neighborhood directly across the road from the properties at 2013 and 2027 Mass Ave, including a comment that some neighbors are even considering moving out of town.   For the latest in Lexington-related news, follow Lexington Patch on …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: July 26

In at Hastings Park proposal at the ZBA, Oz at Grace Chapel, music and more today in Lexington.

1. Dana Home at the ZBA: The Zoning Board of Appeals meets at 7:30 p.m. this evening in the Town Office Building and its agenda includes a special permit site plan review, approval of definitive site develompent and use plans and a special permit for an additional standing sign at 2013 and 2027 Mass Ave, the site of the Dana Home and planned Inn at Hastings Park.  2. Wizard of Oz Opens: The Lexington Youth Summer Theatre production of "The Wizard of Oz" opens at 7 p.m. this evening at Grace Chapel. Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door. 3. Metropolitan Wind Symphony Concerts in the Park: It's the third of three planned outdoor concerts in which the MWS presents patriotic music and marches, show music, and traditional concert band …

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Inn at Hastings Park Proposal Passes Town Meeting

Lexington's annual Town Meeting voted Wednesday, May 9 to approve a zoning amendment to rezone the Dana Home and an adjacent property on Mass Ave for commercial use in a residential zone under the town’s CD zoning.

If the proposal was divisive, then the vote was decisive. By a vote of 138 to 44, Lexington’s annual Town Meeting last night approved Article 34, a citizen’s petition to rezone parcels at 2027 and 2013 Massachusetts Ave. to allow for commercial redevelopment of the Dana Home and the adjacent property as a hotel and restaurant concept known as the Inn at Hastings Park. After a long road to annual Town Meeting and a lengthy discussion when Article 34 finally hit the floor on Wednesday, May 9, it would have made sense for the proponent, Trisha Perez Kennealy, to be feeling relieved or vindicated. Instead, she said her team would be going right back to work.  “The work is only just begun,” Perez Kennealy, a Town Meeting member from Precinct 6…

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Selectmen Support Inn at Hastings Park Proposal

Before Article 34 heads to Town Meeting, the Board of Selectmen approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the applicant and voted to recommend approval of the controversial redevelopment proposal.

After months of meetings, hearings and town boards mulling the proposal, a controversial citizen’s petition to rezone and redevelop the Dana Home as an upscale hotel and restaurant concept known as The Inn at Hastings Park heads to Town Meeting with backing from the Board of Selectmen. Annual Town Meeting, which last gathered on Monday, April 24, reconvenes at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Cary Hall to take up remaining articles dealing with the Wright Farm Land Acquisition and, possibly, Article 34, the Dana Home proposal. Last week, the Planning Board voted to recommend approval of a Preliminary Site Development and Use Plan, conditioned upon the execution of an acceptable Memorandum of Understanding between petitioner Trisha Perez Kennealy’s …

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Patch Facts

Five Things You Need to Know Today: May 7

Wright Farm, Inn at Hastings Park back before the Board of Selectmen, a Community Task Force survey now online, a Wild and Edible Walk and more today in Lexington.

1. Wright Farm/Inn at Hastings Park Back at the BOS: The Board of Selectmen is meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at the Town Office Building and its agenda includes a discussion of and motion on a Wright Farm Letter of Intent, approval of wineries for the Lexingotn Farmers Market and a Memorandum of Understanding for the Inn at Hastings Park. 2. Community Center Task Force Survey: It's now online and available through June 30. 3. Wild and Edible Walk: Expert forage Russ Cohen will lead a Wild and Edible Walk pointing out and educating about at least 18 of the tastiest wild plant species in our midst before a lunch at nourish restaurant in Lexington. From 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., call 781-674-2400 or 508-641-0878 for more details. 4. Turtle Island: …

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Selectmen Discuss but Don't Sign Inn at Hastings Park MOU

Thursday night's Selectmen meeting had the board discussing the memorandum of understanding for the proposed inn/restaurant at Hastings Park that could be legally binding if Article 34 passes at Town Meeting.

The Board of Selectmen spent a majority of its meeting Thursday, May 3, talking about a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the the proposed The Inn at Hastings Park. Basically, the MOU is a series of guidelines set by various town officials for proposed rezoning of two Mass Ave parcels to allow for the redevelopment of the Dana Home and an adjacent property as the Inn at Hastings Park. of a hotel and restaurant in a formerly residential zone.  The MOU is a legally binding document between the town and Trisha Perez Kennealy, petitioner of Article 34, and would also bind any future proprietors of the inn/restaurant to the same guidelines. The MOU obligates the development team to follow strict rules from site development to parking …

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