Back to the 5 & dime? Plans aired for former E & S Mobile property

A revamped gas station and country store could sell old-time candy, toys, and more at the former E & S Mobile Service on Commonwealth Avenue. 

As developers made their pitch, locals heard echoes of West Acton’s 5 & 10 and other beloved former businesses. 

“It’s kind of nostalgic,” the site’s new owner, Kevin Meehan, told the West Acton Advisory Committee.

Meehan bought the E & S property at 166 Commonwealth Avenue in August and previewed plans during a January meeting.

He wants to run a full-service gas station and overhaul the property’s existing building. He’s modeling his concept off his existing Imperial Gas and Country Store in Mendon as he expands his brand. 

Architect Aksel Solberg described “an eclectic collection of goods” at the Mendon location.

The Acton outpost could sell everything from natural soaps to household hardware, Meehan said.

Plans call for new landscaping along Nashoba Brook and a crosswalk to nearby Kenneth J. Dunn Square.

Several advisory committee members saw similarities between the country store idea and the 5 & 10, which closed in 2020. 

“It is missed dearly,” said panelist Nicole Hammond. 

This isn’t the first redevelopment plan floated for 166 Commonwealth. 

In 2023, developers from Acton-based Arris Partners LLC envisioned a three-story complex with a restaurant, commercial space, and 10 units of housing on the half-acre site.

Arris was co-founded by John Garofalo, who is now a member of the Finance Committee, and Tom Sibley. Two of the proposed residential units would have been designated as affordable, according to West Acton Advisory Committee meeting minutes.

Residents objected, citing concerns about parking and traffic. Developers backed down. Garofalo declined to answer questions about the process when reached by email last week.

“It just seemed like there was way too much packed onto that property,” current advisory committee Chair Anna Feldweg said. 

Nearly three years later, committee members praised Meehan’s proposal. 

Filling a gap

Town Planner Elizabeth Hughes mentioned last year’s closing of Revolutionary Acton in Acton Center, and members mused about adding ice cream at Meehan’s store after Reasons to be Cheerful shut its West Acton doors in 2024.

The country store would reconfigure the existing building into a 2,162-square-foot, one-story structure.

This is “a great site for a couple of residential units,” project attorney Johnathan Silverstein told the advisory committee. “But it’s tight,” he said, and the team opted to stick with “the base elements” of a gas station and store. 

E & S closed last year after roughly 70 years in business. The site is a “gateway to West Acton,” Hammond said.

Meehan’s project will require a special permit under town zoning rules, but it would meet parking requirements. 

His team kicked off the application process in recent weeks with a request to the Natural Resources Commission. 

Builders filed more documents last week and will go before the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals in the coming months.