Plans for the first six-story tower--which required a zoning change--were abandoned because of intense local opposition to the plan. An official in the town's planning department tells GlobeSt.com that the company then received approval to develop two three-story buildings on the site.

The approval from the town's conservation commission was appealed by local residents to the state Department of Environmental Protection. But while waiting for the appeal to be decided, Cummings decided to bring back its plans for a six-story office tower--but in a new location. The development company did not return calls by press time but the town official says that the company "really wanted to have a six-story building."

The new location for the 300,000-sf office tower will be outside a 100-foot buffer zone around Shoe Pond, a body of water on the property that is covered by the state's Wetlands Protection Act. The new tower also benefits from the city council's recent zoning change that would allow construction of a six-story office tower as long as it is 400 feet from any public way.

Cummings Properties developed the Cummings Center on the site of the former United Shoe Manufacturing property. The project was completed in the late 1990s.