Historic District Commission approves business mogul’s plans for Main Street

After hearing Wareham native Danny Warren’s plans to build a marina and an events venue/restaurant on Main Street, the town’s Historic District Commission unanimously voted to approve plans for the project. 

Warren is a business owner whose successful environmentally-friendly epoxy businesses have left him with money he hopes to invest in his hometown. He presented his plans for the old Greer Lumber site on Main Street between Besse Park and the British Landing Condominiums during a May 27 Wareham Historic District Commission meeting.

Warren’s vision for the property includes a large events/convention building that will operate for part of the year. The space will likely be used for weddings in the spring (until about June), before operating as a restaurant during the summer months. From around September to Christmas, the building would operate as an events center again — for things like Christmas parties, Warren explained. 

“We’ve got lots and lots of interest on that building for [...] meetings — organization meetings and water meetings,” Warren said. “In all kinds of towns we’ve talked to, they’re saying, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea.’”

He noted that the large events space “won’t compete hard with the folks trying to make a living running restaurants in Wareham in the dead of the winter in that bad time of the year.”

Warren emphasized that the building design was inspired by the Tremont Nail Factory and other historic buildings from the mid-to-late 1700s into the 1800s. He added that the building would have 8 inches of sound proofing in the walls and 12 inches in the ceilings.

The second part of the project is a smaller two-story building that would be a covered-bridge style pavilion that can be closed down at night. Warren explained that there would be an outdoor bar there with entertainment — but all entertainment would stop at 9 p.m.

“I don’t want to get a situation where we become a bad neighbor,” Warren said. “That’s not the intention with the property.”

He said he hoped to attract Wareham families with that second building, which is separate from the sound-proofed wedding venue. 

Additionally, there would be a seasonal summer ice cream shop and “hopefully a donut shop,” Warren said. He described that building as “a little reproduction Amish church.”

The commission, which has jurisdiction to approve things that can be seen from the public way in the historic district of downtown Wareham, was receptive to the plans Warren presented. 

The commission members unanimously approved the proposed designs with only a few conditions. Warren will still have to secure commission approval for things like the color of the metal roofing material, the window configuration and the exterior light fixtures before he moves forward. But, overall, the commission was pleased with the designs.

Warren thanked the commission and emphasized his commitment to Wareham. 

“We were really trying to get something that when you’re going over the Narrows Bridge or you’re coming down Main Street you look at it saying, ‘Woah, there’s a big change in Wareham over there,’” he said.