Lupoli Breaks Ground on ‘Haverhill Heights,’ Praises City Partnership

Salvatore N. Lupoli breaks ground on his “Haverhill Heights” complex at a ceremony on Oct. 18, 2018. (WHAV News file photograph)

Salvatore N. Lupoli broke ground on his “Haverhill Heights” complex at a ceremony on Oct. 18. (WHAV News photograph)

Salvatore N. Lupoli joined city and state leaders Thursday to officially break ground on his $30 million “Haverhill Heights” complex, praising his municipal partners in the downtown mixed-use development.

The ceremonial groundbreaking took place six weeks after the City Council issued their vote of support for the project. In late August after weeks of what Lupoli called early “confusion,” over the project’s elements—including a parking deck at 192 Merrimack St.—councilors allowed the businessman and Boston architect Al Spagnolo to move forward with development. That support, Lupoli said Thursday, has swelled. The developer is working alongside SGA Architects to bring the complex to life.

“When this opportunity came about, we wanted to make sure the City of Haverhill was proud of us. This project could never exist without the Mayor’s office, the building department and all those teams,” Lupoli said. “It’s the city and the people that were so enticing for our company to come down here and make an investment.”

Lupoli’s Sal’s Pizza first opened on Winter Street nearly 30 years ago, with Haverhill’s partnership with the developer beginning in earnest 10 years ago after City Councilor Joseph J. Bevilacqua introduced him to Mayor James J. Fiorentini at a Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce event.

Surrounded by Haverhill’s legislative delegation—including Reps. Linda Dean Campbell, Lenny Mirra and Andy Vargas—and the Haverhill City Council, Lupoli explained the selling points of “Haverhill Heights.”

In addition to 42 market-rate apartments, a Salvatore’s restaurant and a “sky lounge,” Northern Essex Community College’s culinary institute and ValleyWorks will become anchor tenants. NECC President Lane Glenn predicted the community college’s “Haverhill Heights” offerings could rival those at Rhode Island’s Johnson & Wales.

Vargas is confident in Lupoli’s commitment to the city, recalling the impression the developer left on him during an early City Council presentation.

“There were two words that really stuck with me, and I know he’s keeping to that commitment today: He said ‘I overpromise and I overdeliver.’” Vargas recounted. “This doesn’t happen without partnerships and teamwork—without a vision of what we can be as a city. Today we’re acting on that vision.”