A neighborhood looks for salvation in the folks upstairs

Mattapan's main streets need many things: sit-down restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, clothing shops , and bookstores. More inviting storefronts, more quality goods.

But what Mattapan really needs, some of its key boosters say, is more people living above its shops to lure new businesses. It needs walkable urban villages where stores don't close by 6 p.m., all near better public transit.

That "smart growth" notion grew out of the Mattapan Economic Development Initiative, a city-led effort launched two years ago. If successful, the drive to transform single-story shops and vacant parcels into housing-over-retail developments could be a model for revitalizing other neighborhoods and creating affordable housing.

"It's a back-to-the-future idea," said Stuart Rosenberg , a business leader in the neighborhood almost since he first partnered with his father-in-law at Alson's Men's Store in 1964. "A hundred years ago, people lived above the shops in Mattapan Square."

He said the city's initiative would be the "salvation" of Mattapan's main streets.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "I think it will make Mattapan the envy of other neighborhoods."

Rosenberg now sells Mattapan's future instead of men's suits. As a city-appointed business development manager, he tells merchants how they can get city grants to fix up their storefronts and low-interest loans to finance expansions.

A study done by the Boston Redevelopment Authority and ABT Associates , released last year, found that Mattapan's shops looked unappealing and sold too many of the same low-quality goods, and that most shoppers did only convenience or discount shopping there.

Adding residents to Mattapan's main streets would give businesses a jolt and help draw new retailers, said Danny Hardaway , owner of the Morton Street clothing boutique Final Touch With Class and , like Rosenberg , a city-appointed business development manager for the Mattapan initiative.

"When you have residents on top of retail, you help support that retail," he said. "At the same time, we could bring in good, quality stores so people don't have to travel miles away to get these things."

To encourage more mixed-use developments, the initiative's plan recommends loosening height restrictions and the required number of parking spaces that must be created for new housing. In Mattapan, mixed-use developments are only allowed in Mattapan Square and are capped at two stories. The BRA and the Zoning Commission must approve the proposed changes, which would allow four-story housing-over-retail developments in Mattapan Square and three stories along Blue Hill Avenue and Morton Street.

"We don't want to make Mattapan unmanageable and overcrowded, but we do want it to be vibrant and thriving," said Dana Whiteside, the Boston Redevelopment Authority's deputy director for economic development.

A community implementation team set up by Mayor Thomas Menino held its first meeting late last month . The advisory team will explain the proposed zoning changes to the community and will help the city create a Main Streets agency, as part of the city-supported neighborhood development program.

The traditional "top of shop" housing model used to be the norm in walkable places like Mattapan Square. The zoning movement arose to separate people from industry and redesign main streets for driving and parking, which led to widespread bans on mixed-use developments. After downtowns went downhill, the "smart growth" movement that erupted in the 1990s called for returning residents to main streets to rejuvenate them and create smaller, more affordable homes.

"This is not a new concept at all, because traditional villages were built this way, with housing and commercial merged," said Kristina Egan , director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance. "People like to live in mixed-use developments, where they can tumble out of bed in the morning and go get a cup of coffee or a newspaper with no need for a car."

Only a substantial increase in density would catch retailers' attention, said Annette Born , a retail broker who has leased sites in Mattapan Square. Upper-story housing would "improve the square visually and would be a general improvement, but as far as helping me attract national chains . . . maybe if it's another 300 units," she said.

At a parking lot next to the Mattapan Square T station, Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation and the Economic Development Finance Corporation of Dedham are proposing building 130 housing units over 5,000 square feet of retail space. The station itself is being reconstructed by the T, which is adding a two-story operations building.

Near the Morton Street rail station, the Mattapan Community Development Corporation wants to develop Morton Street Homes, which would be built over four or five storefronts at the site of an old building and vacant lots at 775 Morton St. An old police station nearby could be replaced by 22 condos and two retail spaces, as proposed by developer John D. Judge . And at 875 Morton St., Livio Poles of Four Brothers Trust plans a mixed-use project.

Like the Fairmount Line commuter line on which it is located, the Morton Street station itself is scheduled for a significant upgrade. Canopies, benches, landscaping, walkways, wheelchair ramps, electronic message boards , and higher platforms for faster boarding will be built. On the line, the upgrade will allow trains to go faster, and the T is studying how frequency could be increased. It plans on adding three new Dorchester stations and one at Blue Hill Avenue by 2011.

The initiative's plan also recommends a push for extending the Silver Line bus from Dudley to Mattapan Square, which the city and John Cogliano, then state transportation secretary, proposed. Riders on the Red Line trolley -- actually, a shuttle bus now due to T construction -- must switch at Ashmont to reach downtown, while the Silver Line would provide a direct route.

Mattapan won't transform overnight, said Rosenberg, one of the business development managers. Expanding a business or building housing isn't easy, and some of the older property and business owners are content with the status quo, he said.

"You have to show that it's cost-effective and profitable," he said.

"We're fortunate to have younger property owners coming in who have a vision. Hopefully, some of these owners will be visionaries who are willing to take a shot at something like this."