Still don't want to go to Chelsea?

"Maybe it doesn't have all the sights of Boston, and maybe it's not as well kept as a place like Charlestown, with the gas lights and brick sidewalks. But if you can look past some of the things that might need polish, there really is a lot here," he said.

The developers of a spate of new projects are hoping others will overlook the graffiti, fuel tanks, and dowdy storefronts that are often part of the view in Chelsea, and see what Pellegrino sees: a city with terrific proximity to downtown Boston and low home prices.

Pellegrino, for example, lives in a 1,500-square foot renovated townhouse with a marble-countered bathroom, central air conditioning, and 13-foot ceilings. He paid $279,000 two years ago - before prices started plummeting.

Jay Ash, Chelsea's city manager for the past eight years and prior to that its economic development chief, has been instrumental in drawing veteran developers to the city. Despite the ailing real estate market, several large residential and commercial projects are under construction or are being planned, including a 150-room hotel, a 160-unit luxury apartment building, and the largest supermarket in New England. There is also Forbes Lofts, the 300-unit complex of converted mills its developers are marketing as one of the greenest residential projects in the country. With the first phase of 60 units slated for completion in April, developers say they have almost half under agreement.

Ash has staked the future of Chelsea, which spent the early 1990s in state receivership, on making it the kind of place Boston-area professionals like Pellegrino can feel comfortable.

"I see us following the lead of Somerville," Ash said of the nearby city that has polished once rough edges and become stylish in its own urban way. Ash, who during a recent tour wore paint-splattered dungarees, having spent the earlier part of the day cleaning graffiti, added, "It wasn't so long ago that there were places in that city you wouldn't want to go at night."

A native of Chelsea, Ash acknowledges his hometown has both image problems and real issues. While Chelsea had once perennially topped the list of Massachusetts cities with the highest violent crime rates, its ranking has dropped considerably in recent years. Its property crime rates, however, remain relatively high.

Ash admits the crime rate is "not favorable," but he emphasizes it is improving. "A lot of the crime we have here relates to domestic violence and people who know each other," Ash said. "But we know to be successful, we have to continue to bring those numbers down."

Ash added that the city is increasing its police force 10 percent, despite the grim budget outlook for municipalities across the state. Still, for many prospective home buyers, some of the more unsavory aspects of Chelsea's reputation precede it. A recent discussion forum on the website of online real estate company Redfin on buying in Chelsea was dominated by concerns over crime, poor schools, and other negative attributes.

Poverty rates are high and foreclosures have wracked whole streets. From a distance or for the uninitiated, Chelsea doesn't seem like the place to invest millions banking on attracting new residents. Yet the slew of new projects, in a down market such as this, represent a bold bet by developers that Chelsea's potential is obvious to enough people. Parkside Commons, a 238-unit high-end apartment building developed by John M. Corcoran & Company, was fully leased in April, shortly after it was completed. Nearby is a new Home Depot and the mammoth Market Basket supermarket, with 42 registers, which is under construction.

The largest luxury residential building underway in Chelsea is Jefferson at Admiral's Hill, a 160-unit complex that overlooks a run-down marina on the Chelsea River, which is also slated for redevelopment.

The building is at the base of Admiral's Hill, site of a former naval hospital that has become Chelsea's most desirable area. Thomas O'Brien, northeast vice president of JPI, the building's developer, said it is meant to appeal to "younger people looking to live in a very high-end project and . . . at the same time wanting to save money for the down payment for a home."

A two-bedroom apartment in the full-service building will rent for around $2,200. The developers expect to begin marketing the units next month, and the building is slated to open in June.

With home prices dropping, foreclosures rampant, and sales of new condos stalled, the rental market remains the center of real estate action in Chelsea. At the Lofts at Keen Studios, in the city's old industrial district, only four out of 23 artist units have sold since the building was completed last year.

For some real estate professionals, the sinking prices make Chelsea all the more attractive. Joe Pecora, an agent with Coldwell Banker, said he had recently sold a condo with its own parking space for $50,000 near the commuter rail station.

Still, even the city's most enthusiastic boosters acknowledge that Chelsea remains deficient in another area: nightlife. Ash, the city manager, says he's working on bringing some trendy eateries to town.

Chelsea resident Katherine DeSilva said she doesn't even bother going out in the city.

"It's not somewhere people in their 20s and 30s would hang out," said DeSilva, who is 31. "But I just take the bus to Haymarket, and I can go anywhere from there."

And while her friends in the South End may turn up their noses at Chelsea, they probably can't say they've owned their own house since they were 25 years old.