The Zoning Board of Appeal on Dec. 3 approved plans by the owners of Spukies N Pizza at 1159 Washington St. in Lower Mills to replace their building and parking lot with a 4-story, 14-unit condo building with ground-floor space for them to resume making pizzas and subs once construction is finished. 

Stavros and Theodora Retzos took ownership of Spukies – named for a once- common pointy-ended Boston sub roll – in 1997. Their proposal is meant to leave a legacy for their family on a lot that is appropriately shaped like a slice of pizza, their attorney, Nicholas Zozula, told the board.

The proposal calls for 6 residential parking spaces, a Washington Street curb cut of 12 feet, down from the current 22, and the planting of several street trees along both Washington Street and a private way that runs along one side of the property, he said. 

He added that two of the units would be sold as affordable. The couple’s architect, Derek Rubinoff, noted that all 14 units would be handicap accessible.

The building would go next to an apartment building that will transform the site of the Metamorphosis convenience store. The project required variances because the proposed building would not meet the lot’s zoning for minimum number of parking spaces and “open space” for residents and was closer than allowed by zoning to a side boundary. Zozula said the project deserved variances because of the lot’s unusual triangular shape and its slope.

The board approved the project unanimously, pending the signing of a formal agreement on the two affordable units and a design review by the Boston Planning Department.

–REPORTER STAFF