Fenway neighborhood's restaurant row to be restored by next spring

Boston.com
Fenway-Kenmore
Fenway's Restaurant Row set to rise from ashes in spring
Posted by Sara Brown November 23, 2010 12:43 PM


A January 2009 blaze displaced six restaurants and a dry cleaner on Peterborough Street.

By Sara Brown, Town Correspondent

Almost two years after a devastating fire, plans are underway to rebuild “Restaurant Row,” a popular group of Fenway restaurants, by this spring.

Monty Gold, the property owner of 84-100 Peterborough St., outlined plans to restore the block of shops at a Monday night community meeting, assuring residents that the space will return to what it was: a single-story building housing affordable, “mom and pop” restaurants and a hub of the community.

In the early hours of Jan. 6, 2009, a four-alarm displaced the building’s six restaurants and a dry cleaner. The row of restaurants, with their outdoor patio, was a local hang-out and a pre-game destination for hungry Red Sox fans.

Three restaurants that were housed in the building—Thornton’s Fenway Grill, Rod-Dee Thai Cuisine II Fenway, and El Pelon Taqueria, have said that they plan to return to the space, Gold said.

Other restaurants, including Sorento’s Italian Gourmet, Umi Japanese Restaurant and Greek Isles Restaurant, “have moved on” for various reasons, he added, and will not be returning.

Gold said he would fill the building with other restaurants, with an emphasis on food variety and “mom and pop” places. He told the crowd that he would avoid national or local chains, and that interested parties could contact him with menus, financial statements, and food samples.

Gold already has one interested tenant: Jack Rozza, who owns Blackjack Pasta Bar on Queensberry Street, said he hopes to move into the building to create a sit-down restaurant.

Work has started, Gold said, with the roof expected to go up in a few weeks. According to his estimates, work on the building should be completed in February or March (weather depending), after which the restaurants will need to set up their spaces, which he guessed could take another three months at most.

Gold’s statements were met with nods and murmurs of approval from some of the 30 or so people who came to the meeting at Church.

“I’m very excited…speaking for myself and all of the Fenway,” said Matti Kniva Spencer, a 35-year resident of the West Fens.

He recalled the rumors that went around the neighborhood: that the space would be turned into a high rise building, or that it would be filled with apartments.

The loss of the restaurants had a “bigger impact than anyone knows,” said Pat Boulos, who has lived in the neighborhood for 11 years. She recalled that people made friends at the restaurants. “It’s where we socialized.”

Residents—especially the elderly--would congregate at Thornton’s, she said, lingering all morning over coffee.

“People will come back” to the restaurants, she said.

Some audience members expressed frustration about the two-year lag between the fire and the rebuilding. “I’m sorry it took this length of time,” Gold said, citing personal reasons. “It is what it is.”

Residents also reminisced about the fire, “one of the most horrible things that has happened in this neighborhood,” said Don Mathieu, an East Fenway resident.

Yet the rebuilding sparked a dialogue, as Gold asked the audience for suggestions about what to do with a row of windows above the building and said he’s looking for restaurants for the vacant spots.

One audience member suggested “a big Phoenix statue on top,” a nod to the mythical creature that is reborn out of ashes.