Revere's Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 30 granted variances for a 16-story building with 334 apartments and a replacement ballroom on the Wonderland Ballroom site at 1290 North Shore Road, next to the MBTA's Wonderland Station. The developer's attorney told the board that 7% of the apartments would be affordable. In July, the developer offered 10% for a larger version the board turned down, the Revere Journal reported.
The board voted 4-1 to grant relief from the district's floor-area, height and parking rules, with Chairman Michael Tucker voting no, according to RevereTV's recording of the meeting. Before that vote, the board found unanimously that "specific and material changes" had been made since July.
Nancy O'Neil, the attorney who presented the plan for 1290 Northshore Road LLC of South Easton, estimated the affordable share at "around 23 units." The conditions read aloud before the vote did not include an affordable-unit count. As of Oct. 8, the city's web page for the meeting listed the agenda but no written decision. Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya, who spoke in favor, said that losing a floor meant the affordable share would drop to 7% from 10%.
In July, the board rejected a 17-story, 358-unit version. The Revere Journal reported that the July vote was 3-2 in favor, with Tucker and member James O'Brien voting no, and that it failed because a variance needs four of the board's five votes under state law. O'Brien voted for the variances on Sept. 30.
O'Neil told the board that dropping one floor of apartments lowered the building from 182 feet to 170 feet and cut 24 units. The Wonderland overlay district allows 16 stories and 160 feet, and she said a taller floor for the ballroom and the garage push the building past the height limit. She said the building would have about 90 parking spaces. No one spoke against the project at the hearing.
The conditions read at the meeting bar the building's tenants from the city's residential and visitor on-street parking permit program and require site plan review approval before the developer applies for a building permit. Under the standard conditions read before the vote, the variances are not valid until they are recorded at the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, and they lapse if not used within two years. No construction schedule or cost was presented.
Sources:
Revere Zoning Board of Appeals agenda, Sept. 30, 2026
checked Oct. 8, 2026
RevereTV recording of the Sept. 30 meeting
Wonderland item at about 18:33 to 38:14). Also reported by the Revere Journal:
and